Gundam Wing: After Era The Price of Trust
by Tenkage-chan
Summary: The Gundams have landed, and begin their methodical elimination of the new OZ, which follows orders from Sven Lazarus. But the threat to them has not diminished, there is still a leak, and an enemy in waiting...


Legal Junk

This is a fan fiction about Gundam Wing. It takes place one hundred years or so after _Endless Waltz_, and has little to do with the original characters. Gundam Wing and its characters are copyrighted by Sunrise, Bandai, and a bunch of other people who are its respectable owners. This is only an innocent fan fiction story, with some of my own ideas. Any Mobile Suits and/or characters/people mentioned in this are only used in a historical reference (with the exception of the Sandrock II). Pretty much everything here is my own original idea (or at least I hope it is, I don't think anybody has thought of my characters or Gundams before), so, if anybody from one of these places comes by and sees this, please don't have me arrested, I don't mean any harm or offense. Any relation of the characters in this story to anyone else is purely coincidental (I've always wanted to say that! grin ), same goes for any machines and such.

Okay, I'd say that's that. So, on with the party!

Yeah, yeah, I know, it's the same junk that I had posted for the last part, but, hey. I'm lazy. So, here's the stuff for part II: All mention of the characters and/or Mobile Suits, with the exception of the Virgo S units, the Sandrock II, and the modified Taurus suits, are used in a purely historical reference, during this fan fiction. Treize Khushrenada, and all his affiliates are copyrighted by the guys listed above . Sven Lazarus, and his affiliates, have very little to nothing to do with the original OZ, they just decided to use the name, because of the impact it had so many decades ago. Oh, and, don't worry, while Sven may be a Treize Khushrenada wannabe, he's far too cynical and callous to ever have the same coolness that Treize had. So, here's part II!

_**Author's Note:** This is Miyuki, here. I thought that you guys might like for me to explain the frenetics of psionics, to help you understand the whole concept of this. I'm sure some of the original readers will remember this section being about half-way through the story, but I decided to move it for the revamp. First off, psionics are -**not**- Newtype abilities. While there may be similarities, they are not the same thing. I'm afraid that I don't know the extent of Newtype abilities, so I can't really go into detail about that._

_Psionics were first discovered about, oh, ten or fifteen years after Endless Waltz. At that point in time, they were still only the low-level generations, first through third. First-generation would be considered any "normal" human, so there's nothing there to really describe it. Second-generation psionics are men and women who tend to be a little more… creative, but in a greater extent than a "normal" person, and often tend to skip a few grades. Third-generation psionics, well, for a good example, Treize Khushrenada, and his daughter Mariemaia. (Both of which have been copyrighted.) Third-generation consists of men and women who are brilliant, in every sense of the word. Total geniuses, and, despite what many may think, both Treize and Mariemaia were indeed brilliant. They were geniuses, when it came to military tactics, and public manipulations. I guess that works, for now._

_The real psionics happened, almost on accident, with the birth of the fourth-generation psionics. These people were not only geniuses, but had the power of empathy, and foresight. Foresight is extreme Deja'vu, and empathy is the power to feel and influence other people's emotions, for those of you that don't know. Empaths can't read thoughts, unless it's an all-consuming thought. The fourth-generation psionics were scientific miracles, really, the first of many. After them came the fifth-generation, which was really the beginning of the high-level psionics. These people not only had empathy and foresight, but the beginnings of telekinesis and telepathy. Telekinetics are moving matter with your mind, of course, and telepathy is reading/influencing people's thoughts. Now, their power was greater than Gen-4's, so they could do more._

_The real banger came with the sixth-generation psionics. These people had empathy, foresight, slight telekinesis, and under-developed telepathy, which meant that, they couldn't control it. This is where telepathy became marked as the most dangerous psionic ability, because it always drove the Gen-6 recipients insane. Telepathy turned out to be very tricky to use. Not only did the psionic have to control it, to keep from involuntarily reading the thoughts of everyone about them, but unless the psionic had the power and mental control, if they used their telepathy on someone, and didn't keep it under tight control, they would end up entangling themselves in the other person's mind, destroying the mentality of both people. For a while, the psionic generations didn't go beyond sixth._

_Finally, another miracle occurred, and the first seventh-generation psionics were born. These people had fully developed telepathy, so they could control it, though it was still dangerous, stronger telekinetics, and all the powers of the earlier psionics, only more powerful. Then, there came the eighth-generation psionics, who had all the powers of the Gen-7 psionics, but with more power, and better control over their telepathy. This is the highest recorded psionic generation, with the exception of Inori. Like I stated in "A Cry For Stars To Fall", Inori is something of an enigma. Nobody really knows how she became so powerful, and since she's the only ninth-generation psionic currently in existence, they won't record the generation beyond her. Inori's powers are extreme, she keeps her emotions and mental stability under tight control, at all times, despite her easy-going personality. Her telekinetics are strong enough to let her lift great objects, at least a third the size of an MS, repel bullets, and even repair her body at a faster rate than normal. Her telepathy is considerably strong enough for her to influence an entire crowd of people slightly, like putting them to sleep, or completely change a single person's mentality and personality, she can even kill them, with her mind. However, with that much more power, comes that much more danger, and responsibility._

_Well, I hope this helps you guys out with psionics! Now, on with the story!_

_-Miyuki_

_**PART II; The Price of Trust**_

In the last chapter of Gundam Wing: _After Era_, The Colonial Senate, the designated chairmen of the colonies, who ruled the Earth Sphere Unified Nation, collapsed into a ruin of dead bodies and rubble, with the arrival of a new, and dangerous enemy. Wielding military power such as hadn't been seen in almost a century, this enemy, calling itself OZ, after the faction that had been led by Treize Khushrenada, quickly subdued the whole of earth, in less than a week.

In space, things were far different. With the assistance of the Mobile Suit defense units from the lunar base, the only approved form of military defense for the era, succeeding in conquering the space colonies proved to be far more difficult than OZ expected.

For two long years, the war raged on. Many people, back on earth, believed that it was the lunar base, or the space colonies, acting on their own, to take over earth's politics. On earth, young Kahna Ramsus Winner, the descendant of Quatre Raberba Winner, reinstated the Maganac Corps, and began the battle of resistance against OZ. Young Kahna put his trust into the people of outer space, and sent them information regarding OZ's method of Mobile Suit use, and the cruel fate of their pilots.

Using technology of the lunar base, OZ was using the Sub-ZERO system, a piloting system with a similar style of interface to the original, and now illegal, ZERO system, that had been designed so many decades ago, by the creators of the five original Gundams. By erasing the pilot's memory, through unknown means, OZ could create a perfect integration with the potentially dangerous Sub-ZERO system, giving them soldiers with the skill of a Mobile Doll unit, but leaving them with the edge of unpredictability that all machines lacked.

On the lunar base, the construction of Gundams was approved, and by the end of two years, they were completed. Pilots had been selected from the best possible soldiers; Rem Angelique, a dark spirited young man, who had been given the nickname of "Invisible Devil", for his skill in surprising his enemies. Inori Kazama, a ninth generation psionic, placed on the Elite Taurus Defense unit of the lunar base since the age of 7, and a skilled Mobile Suit engineer. Takeru Yuy, the great-grandson of Heero Yuy, the legendary "Perfect Soldier".

Near to the launch date of the Gundams, OZ attacked the lunar base, information about the Gundams' existence having slipped through their defenses. In a bold move, the Gundams, and their pilots, launched during the heat of battle, and escaped with success.

As they near the earth, the Gundam pilots pose the greatest threat to this new OZ. And yet, Sven Lazarus, the leader of the new OZ faction, seems to be making no moves against them. If he underestimates them, that could be his most critical error.

The Gundams have landed…

_-Rome, Italy_

They used to say that, all roads led to Rome. Nowadays, however, Rome had become just another paltry pit stop along the side. The great coliseum was crumbling away into dust, and there wasn't a single person who would do a thing about it.

The recently established OZ military intelligence building, built for the purpose of training and recruiting soldiers to serve on the command crews of submarines, battle carriers, and command ships that had been built by the now established ruling faction on earth. Sven Lazarus, the leader of this new OZ, had designated the construction of these buildings across the world, they were places that all issues of civilian matters were handled, as well a judicial matters. All records of military outposts, their listed defenses, and soldiers in the area, were also kept in the regional intelligence building. The one placed within Rome was no exception, it kept all records of any data transfer sent by the outposts for the entire Mediterranean area.

Out front, the two guards posted to keep morning watch were beginning to feel lazy. They slouched in place, stiffening only when people approached, or left the building, which didn't occur very often, at this time of day. Eventually, the guard on the left dropped his rifle beside him, folding his arms across his chest, and reclined against the wall, his companion looked at him in disbelief.

"What are you doing?" he asked in an incredulous tone.

"Hmm? Well, it's not as if they're gonna check on us or anything." Mused the guard on the left, yawning. "I sincerely doubt that they'll even care if we relax for a little bit."

"Huh, easy for you to say." Retorted the guard on the right, "You joined voluntarily."

"Oh, what, and you didn't?"

"Oh, shut up."

The two were silent for a time, the guard on the right scowling at his companion. The sound of an approaching vehicle drew their attention away from their grudge, however, as a sleek-framed motorcycle pulled into the short-time parking area, right before the building itself. The rider dismounted, and though it was difficult to tell from the distance, it could be seen the helmet was all black, with two pale blue streaks running along the sides. The rider's jacket was made of a light, leather-like material, similar to denim, with a blue Japanese dragon emblazoned up the back, and the words "Heaven's Wrath" across the bottom in silver Japanese characters. The rider lifted up the motorcycle's seat, pulling out what appeared to be a slender file, and turned to walk up the entrance steps.

The guard on the right snapped to attention, but the guard on the left was a bit more curious, and remained slouching. He watched as the rider ascended the steps, and gave a low whistle.

"What?" the guard on the right took a closer look at the rider. "Is that a man or a woman?"

"A woman." Said the guard on the left, with dead certainty. "'Cuz I ain't _never_ seen a man who could fit into a pair of snug jeans like _that_!" The guard admired the slender, firmly built form of the young woman as she walked past them, even turning his gaze to follow her inside. He nodded in appreciation, then turned back to lean against the wall with a large smile.

"Oh, yeah, I haven't seen a butt like that in five years!" he said happily.

"Yeah, right, you've never even seen a girl with a body that good in real _life_,before! Let alone this up close!" snorted his companion. Then, he turned back in curiosity. "…Have you?"

"Hmph." The guard on the left turned and winked to his companion, wagging a finger with a sly gin, "Now _that_, is a secret!"

The guard on the right deflated. "You're full of it, y'know that?"

The slender, female rider walked up to the main desk, slapping the slim file on the desk top, and dropping a security card and ID on the desk, leaning against it.

"I'm here to pick up those files about the Bartoli Space Communications tower." The melodious voice was slightly muffled, since she hadn't taken off the helmet. The man at the desk looked up at her incredulously, like he could confirm a photo ID without seeing her face! The young woman seemed to figure this out for herself, and sighed helplessly, reaching up to pull off the helmet. Long, silken black hair tumbled out from underneath in a rough, but smooth braid, while her skin was creamy and soft. Her face was finely chiseled, holding the best characteristics of American and Japanese traits, combined into something flawless. She opened her eyes as her lips softly parted in an easy smile, their icy blue intensity nearly knocking the man out of his seat.

She was an ID match for her picture, and it was with a little reluctance that he handed her ID back to her. He typed in an ID conformation, and ordered up the files she had requested.

"Is there any other specific information that you need about Bartoli, miss?" he asked.

"Hmm, lemme think." She said, catching her chin in the palm of her hand. "I'm getting the defense records, communications read-outs, basic structural prints, I think that's it. Am I getting the area read-outs, as well? The patrol units, and their times, and topographic read-outs?"

"Yes, they're all included, miss."

"All right then, how long do I wait?"

"About ten minutes, or so."

"Okay." She said, leaning against the reception desk, and clasping her hands behind her back. "I can live with that."

Fifteen minutes later, that same young woman was walking out of the building, putting her helmet back on, her file now considerably thicker. She unzipped the front of her jacket, letting in more air. The two soldiers posted out front only appreciated her arrival all the more, as she left.

"Hey, baby!" the soldier on the left called out to her, as she walked away, "I get off of work in a few minutes! Ya wanna take the rest of the night off with me?"

"Sorry, but I can't." she called back, without turning around. "I'd normally love to, but I'm afraid I'm just too busy, planning terrorist attacks, and all!"

The two soldiers took her response as a joke, not realizing that she had been quite serious, despite her light-hearted tone. She shook her head in amusement, her eyes narrowed in determination. With a sly and secret smile to herself, Inori mounted her motorcycle, sliding her file back under her seat. She was glad that the people at the front desk had been so gullible, otherwise they would've figured out that the actual delegate coming for the papers was one of the soldiers for Bartoli Space Communications tower, and not a civilian with access to the records files.

Kicking the engine to life, Inori sped away, and vanished into the city.

_-Somewhere in the Pacific Ocean_

There was nothing. Only the silence, the darkness, the two characteristics that marked true chaos. He had long ago left the depths where hues of deep blue still remained. It reminded him of space, really, the surreal beauty of the ocean depths. They were both so similar, silent, and beautiful, yet ultimately deadly. The slightest mistake, or malfunction, could shatter you, making you bleed through your pours by robbing you of every precious ounce of oxygen.

It was such deadly combinations of beauty and danger that had always fascinated Rem. It was the most perfect order to all things, the epitome of something that was truly natural. He loved it, more deeply than he had ever loved anything in his life, and he highly doubted that anything would ever move him so much as it did. Echoing through the depths, a haunting melody found its way to Rem's ears. Sad, yet so profoundly melodious, and yet, to Rem, it was more of an intrusion than something beautiful. He did not need to look at the screens to know what was making the sounds, whales, the "gentle giants" of the ocean. Perhaps, if he had been someone who was more sensitive to things, he would've found their song quite beautiful. However, Rem was not that sort of man.

Eventually, the haunting echoes faded into the silence again, and Rem was left with his thoughts, and his darkness. He would've been content, waiting there, in the silence, until an eternity, or at least the war, had passed him by. Fate had other plans.

On the lower, left-hand corner of his darkened view screen, a small corner flashed to life with a pale light. It forced Rem to open his eyes, and regard the small corner with disdain. He could not, however, ignore the message he had just received. Scanning the words with his eyes, Rem wondered, would it matter if he took the assignment? Would his attack have any kind of effect in this war? He wondered, would it be better, if he just stayed here, hidden beneath the waves, like one the millions of anomalies that had been born from the cobalt tides…

His system radar alerted him to the presence of an approaching underwater carrier, one of OZ's submarines. Judging by its speed, it was no doubt carrying Mobile Suits, at least five, as was standard procedure for traditional OZ crafts. However, Rem suspected that it carried more. Internal scanners picked up the read-outs of Cancer and Pisces suits, all no doubt modified with the Sub-ZERO system, Rem suspected seven. It made him think about how little people actually knew about the tactics of Lazarus' resurrected OZ.

Gripping the controls with hands that were sweating in anticipation, Rem found himself smiling darkly, as he willed the Seraph to life.

As the officer in charge of flooding the Mobile Suit docks, he really didn't have anything to do, until something actually happened. All he did, all he could do, was sit in front of the monitors for the docks, watching the soulless pilots as they sat within the great metal beasts. He wondered, why had mission control even sent them out here? So, a meteor had crashed into the ocean, so what. Nothing had been affected by its entry, so there was no point to locating and retrieving it, really. Maybe the meteor was made up of some kind alloy or mineral they hadn't seen before. Either way, he didn't really feel that it was necessary for him to be watching the Mobile Suit docks at all times.

Just looking on the Mobile Suits, knowing that inside was the product of someone's sick, twisted mind. He didn't know how they programmed the MS pilots, and he didn't want to know. He was only glad that he had been chosen as bridge crew, and not one of the Sub-ZERO guinea pigs. He sighed uneasily, he had never liked watching the Mobile Suits. When he had been a kid, he had romanticized about them, imagined that he had been one of the daring Gundam pilots that had lived so long ago. He had joined OZ in hopes of realizing his dreams, until he had learned the sickening truth behind OZ's pilots. It made his stomach churn, almost every time, the thought of how they wiped your memory clean, then hooked you up to your MS, like you were nothing more than the part of a Mobile Doll control unit. It was simply inhuman, but he couldn't back out, once he was in.

"What's the status of our Mobile Suit pilots, soldier?" a gruff voice asked from behind him.

The young soldier flinched, and turned around abruptly. "Ah, yes captain! All pilots read to be a nominal status, sir!"

"Excellent." the captain turned away, sweat beading on his brow. He was not as naïve as his soldiers. He had made a theory about why he and his men had been sent out, with three Cancer, and four Pisces suits. He had studied his history well enough, and he knew how the five legendary Gundam pilots had arrived on earth, before. Project "Meteor", they had disguised themselves as shooting stars, and he didn't believe the story about a meteor, not for all the promotions, money, women, and liquor in the world. If his hunch was right, they were moving headfirst to their deaths.

"Captain?"

The captain started out of his thoughts, coming to the realization that, the soldier who had just spoken, had been calling him for some time now.

"What is it, soldier?" he asked briskly, trying to hide his doubts from showing.

"Sir, I've picked up a group of whales, headed in our general direction." The soldier said, "Should we change course?"

"No. It's only a pod of whales, I'm sure that they'll avoid us."

The whales maneuvered around the giant, underwater carrier, seeming for all the world like they wanted no part in the submarine. There was something that smelled peculiar to the captain, though, and he realized why, when the submarine shook with the force of a collision. Red lights descended from the ceiling, flashing in sync with the alarm as it sounded. The captain had fallen backwards, into his seat, and clung to the arms of the chair with a vengeance.

"What was that!" the captain shouted.

"Sir!" reported the soldier in charge of flooding the MS docks. "We've lost two out of three Cancer suits! They were lost in the collision, and the third is threatening to be lost as well. We've lost visual in dock one, and dock two is totally flooded! Holy shit, you can ­_see_ the hole in the ship!"

The captain ran over to the soldier's side, scanning the camera images in the docking bays. Just as the soldier had said, dock one was nothing but static, and the camera in dock two was threatening to be lost as well. He could see the water pouring into the third dock, the Cancer suit just barely resisting the pull of the current. A dark form descended before the camera, he couldn't make it out. Just like that, they lost visual for dock three.

"Sir! Damage report states that we've had a large hull breech! A hole the width of a Mobile Suit, stretching from before dock one, all the way to dock four, on the starboard side of the sub!"

The captain growled, gnashing his teeth. Was it what he thought it was? He didn't have time to contemplate, as the submarine shook violently again, this time with the force of an explosion.

"Sir! Damage report states that the main engine room has been breached, and is now flooding!"

"Bring the image of the main engine room up on the main screen!" ordered the captain, his voice nearly shaking with anxiety. He ran back to his own seat, standing before it, so as to get a clear look at the screen. The image was fuzzy at first, but it eventually cleared away, and the generators could be seen. Beside them, a great and shadowy figure could be seen, clutching a wicked, black-bladed weapon, something reminiscent of a scimitar. The great shape turned towards the camera, glowing red eyes could be seen, blazing with fury. All within the control room fell silent, involuntarily taking a step backwards. In a flash of motion, the image was reduced to static, leaving the soldiers in their silence.

The captain fell back into his chair, sweat beading on his brow, his eyes small with fear. He could hear the petty officer at his side, asking what they should do. Though a million possibilities raced through his mind, he couldn't bring himself to move beyond his shuddering. Death had finally decided to pay them a visit.

In a brilliant flash the temporarily illuminated the darkness of the ocean depths, before being pulled back in upon itself, the submarine was gone. The Mobile Suits that had been lost to the tide upon collision were destroyed as well, the force of the explosion more than enough to take them along with it. After the debris had settled upon the sands, far below, all that was left was a shadow, dark and foreboding, with eyes like blood, that stood out amidst the darkness. Within the Seraph, Rem snorted, and a cruel smile played across his thin lips.

"I'll take the mission." He said in finality, and the Seraph began its course, for the ruined shores of California.

_-Military Space Harbor, Southeast on London…_

The shipment of Virgo S Mobile Suits had just arrived from space. It was a big shipment, forty or forty-five suits, all loaded onto the two biggest possible carriers to be found in space. The shipment was currently undergoing an inspection, to make certain there weren't any stragglers, or terrorist bombs. They had been receiving quite a few of those, recently, from the resistance faction that had been established in space. OZ hadn't been able to locate them, since their force was really nothing more than a few Mobile Suit carriers, and two command ships. They were made up of the surviving Elites from the lunar base, and any others that had joined in the fight. Not that t mattered, the inspection passed an okay: they would unload the Virgos the following day.

Standing on the docks, he had watched as the two carriers had landed along the runways. With his current occupation as a civilian cargo manager, he wouldn't be getting any closer to those Virgos, not today anyway, and certainly not tomorrow. After all, by tomorrow morning, there wouldn't be anything left of this space harbor other than ashes.

Takeru pulled the binoculars away from his eyes, he had seen what he needed to, he didn't need to make anyone suspicious, the evening before his mission. No longer needing the things, he dropped them into the water alongside the short dock, and turned to walk back to the warehouses. As he ascended the short stairs up to dry land, he could hear a gruff, salty voice calling his name, his employer. Shoving his hands into the pockets of his jeans, he turned right, avoiding the direction the voice came from. It wasn't that he wanted to get out of work, just that he still had a few things left to accomplish, before tonight. The precedence of his mission took place over everything else.

He came across one of the fire escapes to the civilian warehouses, and leapt upwards, grabbing onto the ladder by its very bottom rungs. Quickly hauling himself up by hand, he swung his legs over, and walked up the stairs to the roof. It was a simple matter of getting into the military warehouses from above, all he had to do was follow the rooftops. His only problem would be the Virgo units that stood on guard. There was only maybe five Mobile Suits in all, but he didn't trust the soulless pilots within the hulking mechs to not notice him.

Staying low along the edge of the rooftops, Takeru made a leap over the gap between the two buildings, clearing it with room to spare. He landed in a roll, and came up onto his feet, ducking low, and continuing on to the next building. This continued on for another couple of minutes, till he came to the edge of the wall that surrounded the military warehouses. He could see the wall below him, and farther across than the civilian warehouses had been was the closest possible warehouse he could get to. His method for getting there would be the hardest thing to do, since he had to wait for a Virgo to pass by, then jump on without being noticed.

He could see the lumbering MS as it approached, staying low to avoid being picked up by the Virgo's camera. The sun would be setting in an hour or so, he wanted to be done with this, and get to his Gundam as quickly as possible. The hulking Virgo paused before where he was hidden, the camera looking over in his general direction. Takeru focused, not wanting to be picked up on infrared scanners, and reduced his temperature. His heartbeat and breathing became shallow, and he laid flat on the surface of the roof. He was nothing more than the tar on the roof to the Virgo. The lumbering MS tuned back to its walk, and Takeru quickly brought his body functions back to normal. With no time for a running start, he leapt out into the open air, tucking his legs in close, and flipping in mid-air for a better landing position. It seemed as if the Virgo would pass by, and he'd crash into the pavement below. Reaching out with his left hand, Takeru grabbed hold of the Virgo, swinging forward violently, but managing to hold on.

Breathing a sigh of relief, he pushed off, and landed in a roll, onto the rooftop of one of the military warehouses. He heard the Virgo stop, and he pushed himself into a run. At the edge of the warehouse roof, just as the Virgo's camera turned in his direction, he sprung forward onto his hands, slipping around like a round off, and fell onto the fire escape, landing in a crouch. He crawled into the warehouse through a window, and surveyed the crates inside. As he had gauged earlier, this was the where all spare uniforms were kept, just as he needed. He fell in, and ran over to a corner. The last time he had been here, he had left out the uniform of a patrol officer, a rifle, and a handgun with a silencer. Pulling on the soldier's clothing over his jeans and T-shirt, Takeru slid the silencer into a pocket, and hooked the rifle over his shoulder. The handgun he shoved into his belt. Tipping the hat low, he left the warehouse, heading for the communications building.

If he was going to do this, he wanted to make certain that the soldiers here couldn't contact any outside areas, like the Virgo unit in London. He didn't need anymore trouble than what he already had here. The communications building would be easy enough to sabotage. He walked around behind it, on his way to the main exit, stopping before the fuse box. Opening the box, he attached a small item to the main fuse, one that would blow the box at his command. Nodding to himself in satisfaction, Takeru tipped his hat low, and proceeded on.

He saw his ride out of the place, and strapped his rifle on tightly. He waited on the side as the driver finished loading the truck, hiding in the shadows. The driver closed the back gate, and walked around to the front of the truck, on the other side. Taking his chance, Takeru rushed forward, rolling under the truck, and clinging to the bottom as tightly as possible. He heard the engine start up, and the pavement below started rolling away as the truck approached the main gate. He could hear the driver speaking to the guard at the gate, he knew that the guards would just let the driver through. While they always checked vehicles coming in, they never checked the ones that left. The gates slid open, and the truck passed through, unhindered. He only had to get to his Gundam, now…

_-Somewhere in the Arabian Desert…_

The heat of the afternoon sun made the air look strange, like he was looking through water. The glare of the sun ran down the cold white metal of the Mobile Suit's armor like liquid fire. Kahna stood at the base of the Sandrock II, staring up at the remade Gundam with a look of sorrow. He had done this many times before, he didn't really know why. He had just been compelled to come here, and look up at the Gundam.

"Well…" he began softly, "You and I have been through a lot together, Sandrock."

That was certainly true. Ever since he had gotten into the Sandrock II's cockpit, two years ago, it almost seemed as if his life had become a never-ending battle. His determination, and his fighting spirit, both had been waning. With every Virgo S he destroyed, every base he and his men attacked, he felt as if his soul had been burdened to carry the weight of uncountable murders. His men said otherwise, they insisted that they were doing the right thing, and that they were releasing the souls of those soldiers who had lost their memories to OZ. He wished that he could believe them, with all his heart, he wished it.

Kahna cast his eyes downward, staring at his feet. He walked up to the Sandrock II, and pulled himself onto one of the feet, curling up his knees, and hugging them to his chest. Ever since their initial escape to this hidden base, the life of Kahna and the Maganac Corps had been a near-constant fight. Patrols went out daily, to ensure that the enemy probes were met, and destroyed. They had gotten into many battles just to keep the location of their base secret. There had also been the sting missions that Kahna had led his men out on, decisive strikes against OZ, that would buy them just a little more time and safety. The skill of his men had grown considerably, when at first, it had been difficult to battle the Virgo S units. However, the number of soldiers had been reduced, not just by tragic deaths, but also by those who had left the base with their families. They had all sworn that they would not reveal the position of Maganac Corps, but that they could no longer fight. The Maganac Corps had been reduced to the Maganac and Oliphant Mobile Suits left by Quatre's followers, and perhaps a dozen or so Leos.

There were many times that Kahna had considered surrendering himself, in return for the safety of is men and their families. Every time, he would be met by the angry responses of his men, how could he even consider it! For the lives of his men, he was more than willing to consider it. Kahna had doubts that he would be able to fight anymore, very soon. It was like his heart was breaking.

"Master Kahna!" a voice interrupted his thoughts, and Kahna snapped out of his trance. Looking up, he saw Razul, his second in command, coming towards him with an expression that he couldn't place. "Young Master, we are receiving a message from the lunar base."

"The lunar base?" Kahna replied in disbelief. "I thought that it was captured."

"As did I." Conceded Razul, "The one sending the message, a Dr. Crow, says that he is using a secret channel. I think that you should come and hear it, he requested to speak with you."

Kahna nodded, and pushed himself off the foot of the Sandrock II. He paused to look back at the Gundam, then walked on with a sigh. It was quite a distance to the communications tent, but Kahna had learned a shortcut, and took Razul along this route. Even so, they weren't certain for how much longer they'd remain in safe contact, so they ran. When they arrived, they were out of breath, and Kahna bent forward, resting his hands on his knees to catch his breath.

"Tsk, tsk." He heard an elderly voice speak in amusement. Kahna looked up at the man in the screen, with his bushy, over-sized eyebrows, and wrinkled face beneath a beard and moustache. "A boy your age, in the predicament that you're in, should keep himself in better shape!"

Kahna found himself smiling at the man's remark. He took the empty seat offered to him by his men, and spoke to the old man.

"Dr. Crow, I presume?"

The old man's amused smile remained as he nodded. "And you are sixteen-year-old Kahna Ramsus Winner, great-grandson of the legendary Quatre Raberba Winner, pilot of the Gundam Sandrock II, and leader of the reinstated Maganac Corps." He said it in a more factual tone, than anything else.

"What is it you wanted to talk to me about, doctor?" Kahna asked.

"Well, since I don't want to be discovered, I'll keep this brief." The man calling himself Dr. Crow cleared his throat, he reminded Kahna of an old blackbird, as it bobbed up and down. "A little less than three weeks ago, the lunar base was captured in a not-so-spectacular battle. However, as I'm certain you didn't hear this on any enemy transmissions, something did manage to break away from that battle, three somethings, actually. Atmospheric entry capsules, all of them."

Here, Dr. Crow paused, judging the young man's reaction. Kahna's eyes had widened some, a hopeful look in his eyes. Crow bowed his head, his smile broadening.

"They've landed." The communications cut out after that, leaving everyone but Kahna wondering.

Razul looked at his young master, whose shoulders were shaking.

"Master Kahna?" he asked tentatively. "Do you know what he was talking about?"

Kahna suddenly threw back his head with laughter. Tears of joy were spilling down the sides of his face, he seemed relieved, his fighting spirit had been restored with Crow's last words.

"They've landed!" he repeated aloud, "The Gundams, they've landed!"

_-The Lunar Base_

The complete and utter darkness of space. That was what surrounded them, and all other things. Stars, asteroids, planets, all were lost within the folds of outer space. It was such darkness that had always compelled him to aspire to all that he was, it was perfection, and he had wanted nothing more, than to be a part of that perfection.

Within the darkened room that served as his office, Sven Lazarus, the leader of the newly resurrected OZ, found himself daydreaming. As he gazed out the window, into the vastness of outer space, he found his mind drifting, searching for that one place, that one area, where you couldn't see the stars, where there was nothing but the purity of outer space, its silence, its peace. It was where he had always been most at home.

A sound drew him away from his contemplations, a knock at his door. He seemed to scowl, without changing his expression. Without turning his chair around, Lazarus ordered for the person to enter.

"Sir!" the soldier was young, and slightly nervous. He didn't know why he had chosen the boy for an assistant, be he did his job admirably. The boy saluted, not bothering about the lights.

"What is your report?" Lazarus asked in a seemingly bored tone of voice.

"Colonel Lazarus, we've tracked the landing areas of the three Atmospheric entry capsules." the soldier replied loyally.

"And the Mobile Suits inside them?"

"There was no sign. Only a few Mobile Suit tracks, and thruster burn marks. Both Mobile Suits must've launched immediately."

"And what about the capsule that crashed into the Pacific?"

"A deep water submarine was sent out in pursuit, we told them they were in search of a meteor that had crashed into the water."

"And?"

"We haven't had contact for over six hours."

Lazarus snorted. "Then they're dead."

"Most likely, sir. If they were going up against a Gundam, like you suspect-"

"It _was_ a Gundam. There's no mistaking _that_. There are three of them, and they're on earth." Lazarus sighed. "You disappoint me, Sevil."

"I'm truly sorry, Colonel."

Lazarus pondered the last battle with lunar base, which he had established as OZ's main base of operations. He had been watching that battle, from one of the numerous command ships that had been watching, and issuing commands to the Virgo S units. With his own eyes, he had seen those lunarian launch pods, the atmospheric entry capsules of the Gundams, and their pilots. At first, he had been furious that he had let them slip through his fingers. Until he had remembered his trump card.

"Sir…" the soldier began tentatively. "Isn't it time that we informed the forces of earth about the arrival of Gundams?"

"Not yet." Lazarus said after a pause, "Let's wait until they make their move. After all, the true master of his game is the one who can predict all possibilities, and make decisions according to the best possible outcome."

Lazarus smiled to himself. "Let's let our knight make the call…"

_-Sicily…_

The night was unusually silent. The soldiers at the Bartoli Space Communications tower were all tired from running the day shift, so they didn't seem to notice however. Only those inside the Virgo S units, those soldiers whose minds had been erased, were wide awake, but they had lost the ability to perceive the meaning of why the hairs on the back of their necks were raised, along with their memories.

One of the soldiers in the command tower, in charge of scanning all radio frequencies, had stumbled upon what he thought to be a radio station. He, and some of the other soldiers, as they waited for the change of shifts, listened to the music obliviously. He was tired enough for it not to dawn on him that radio stations in Italy didn't play music with Japanese lyrics.

Streaking across the night, a pale blue crescent wave of energy cut into the two Virgo units standing defense on the far northeast wall. For a moment, it appeared that nothing had happened, it had only been a flash of light, as the Virgos remained, undamaged, and unmoving. This reaction lasted only as long as the Virgos, when both units suddenly spilt into two halves at the waist, and exploded into flames. Alarms sounded across the night, and while they attempted to call out for assistance over any possible frequency, they found all frequencies playing the same hard rock and roll, communications were jammed.

Screaming in at high speeds, the Azure came in impossibly fast, its dragonfly-wing thrusters flaring angrily. The Gundam's enhanced beam rifle, which was at least as powerful as a Buster rifle, was held in the left hand. The right hand was clutched tightly in a fist, a pale blue blade of energy descending from it, and glowing in fury. The Virgo S Mobile Suits that had been assembled at the explosion opened fire at the slender-framed Gundam, beam cannon blasts echoing in the silence, above the scream of the Azure's thrusters. Inori pulled up the left arm defensively, the beam shield firing to life to protect the Azure from any direct hits. The controls were shaking with the speed she was traveling at. She smiled to herself at how pathetic the Virgo S units seemed right now.

"You boys shoot like storm troopers!" she taunted, and the Azure sliced its plasma saber across as she screamed by, dispatching another Virgo with the blade. Slowing the Azure's speed, one of the Gundam's feet touched lightly on the ground, and spun about on the ball of the foot, turning the entire MS about. Inori had put the plasma saber away, and switched hands with her beam rifle. Aiming at the mass of approaching Virgos, she planted the Azure's feet firmly, bringing it to a complete stop. The right arm raised, beam rifle in hand, and fired. Seven Virgos disappeared in a flash of brilliant light, leaving only a blackened trail in their wake.

Within the cockpit, Inori smirked. Her radar alerted her to the presence of the four remaining Virgo S units. She dropped the beam rifle, activating the plasma saber once more. The Azure fell back into a defensive stance, the beam shield flaring to life, and brought defensively up before the Azure's cockpit area.

The Plasma Saber was easily Inori's favorite toy on the Azure. Unlike the traditional beam saber, it was an actual part of the MS itself, the blade's energy came out of a socket located on the right arm, just above the wrist. It had a much flatter blade than a beam saber, and used the Mobile Suit's own reactor for energy, making the blade much more deadly than a mere beam saber. Another special feature, that had been added to the Azure's plasma saber, in particular, was the blade's ability to channel Mega particles generated by the generator, and create a crescent wave of devastating energy, that would cut through enemy ranks, until the energy itself dissipated.

Inori incorporated this technique, now, channeling the reactor's Mega particles into the blade, and slicing across with enough force to release it with all the speed of the Azure itself. The Virgos combined the power of their shields to resist the energy, expecting it to work as it would for a beam rifle. Because of the bladed angle of the crescent, it cut through the very shield, and into the Virgos like a hot knife through butter. The explosion of the two took the third with them, leaving only the last on the far end. Inori screamed towards it on the Azure, bringing the plasma saber high, and slicing downwards, cleaving the Virgo in half. She stepped backwards, letting the destroyed MS explode.

She heard the sound of the bullets as the bounced off of the Azure's strong armor. Built for high speeds, the Azure had to have a tight armor seal to endure the speeds it achieved, making it much stronger in defense than, say, a "normal" Gundam. The only defenses left to the tower were the gun turrets and missile launchers along the tower itself. Inori turned the Azure towards the tower, lowering her head in thought.

"You fools." She said softly. "You should've evacuated while you could…" Her eyes snapped open, angry fires of ice blue burning in them. "Didn't you pay attention in history class!" she snapped with a sarcastic tone.

"A Gundam is something that is to be respected… and feared!" she said to them, even though she knew they couldn't hear her. "Those who lay eyes on a Gundam shall not survive to tell others of its existence. You had your chance to escape…"

The Azure fell back into an offensive stance, preparing to charge. The plasma saber flared angrily, hungry for the tower's destruction.

"I guess, I'll just have to beat the lesson into you, until it _kills_ _you_!"

_-San Francisco Ruins, California_

A little over forty years ago, a series of huge quakes had devastated the city of San Francisco. Millions of lives had been lost, and the entire city had been abandoned, people refusing ever to live there again, deciding that the area was too volatile to live in. When the new OZ had come, Sven Lazarus reevaluated the area's potential, and made it into a Mobile Suit development and testing ground. New weapons, thrusters, and piloting systems were designed and tested, here. Most of the blue prints and prototypes for new weapons and Mobile Suits were also located here, which was why it had been decided, it should be destroyed.

High above the base's center, hiding amongst the thick clouds that passed overhead, the Seraph hovered in the sky. Its silhouette was black against the full moon, so distant up in the sky, you couldn't even see the angry red glow of its eyes. The clouds mostly cleared, and the great wings snapped open. Like some advocate of heaven, or some demon in the sky, it seemed, the beam cannon that served as its left arm pointing down at the base in judgment.

Rem held back the blast, waiting for something, any kind of reaction. They weren't even aware of his presence! His hands shook as he clutched the controls, but not of any reluctance to kill. They shook with rage.

"Die." He spat, and fired. The blast tore into the base, annihilating everything within, Mobile Suits, papers, people, he didn't care. They hadn't even seen him, they may as well have deserved to die.

The Seraph hovered above the wreckage, the flames painting his dark MS red, the wings were spread wide, and seemed to be dripping blood. Descending from the skies, Rem's face was bitter with anger. The Seraph landed softly, its arms folded across its chest awkwardly, with the beam cannon for the left arm. How many people had he just killed? Thirty? Fifty? Did it even matter to him? Rem found himself contemplating this, he wasn't certain of his own reaction. It wasn't the first time he had killed someone, but he doubted that those soulless pilots could truly be counted among the living.

From out of the flames, a single Mobile Suit, a Virgo S, its true pilot dead, came raging towards him. He could hear the primal scream of the man that had gotten into the cockpit, he could hear his anguish as he charged the Gundam. He approaches Rem at impossible speeds, pushing himself all out. Rem seemed to move so slow, turning to face the oncoming attacker, the Seraph's wings spread wide. The right arm moved slowly as it reached up, and took out one of the two gundanium scimitars in the wings. He fell back, and set the blade in a firm position, letting the man impale the Virgo on the weapon. He could hear the man's bloody coughs and gurgles, the blade must've gone through the cockpit.

"You… killed them… all…" were the dying man's last words. Rem paused, and let them sink in. He snorted, and threw the Virgo off of the blade, watching it explode on impact.

"Pathetic…" he growled, "Is this all OZ is capable of? It's simply pathetic! These weaklings, are they even worthy of the precious life I took from them?"

The Seraph's wings folded down around the body protectively. "So be it." Rem growled.

"If I am to be the finger of God, the judgment and wrath of the Almighty, then so be it. Those who fall to me, they are those who are unworthy of living…"

The sky was clear above the space harbor, no clouds hung in the air to mar the beauty of the stars. The soldiers were just about to change shifts, ready to work, or to take the rest of the night off for some much-needed sleep. It was at this point that the fuse box blew, cutting off the all space harbor's communication from the rest of the world. Takeru hadn't gone to such lengths without reason.

Falling from the sky like a stone from heaven, the Neo Wing ZERO crashed to the earth, landing on the very runway the Virgo S carriers had been stationed on. The eyes of his Gundam glowed eerily, and the twin Buster rifle snapped into position, aimed in the general direction of the two carriers. Takeru heard the alarms go off, just as he fired. In a flash of utter brilliance, the two carries were gone, the charred path left by the blast the only sign of them ever being there.

Virgo S units charged in from behind, and to his left, leaving him with very little options. The Neo's thrusters burning angrily, he shot up into the sky, forcing the Virgo units to reduce speed, and change course, they never noticed the Buster rifle Takeru had left on the ground. Out came the twin beam sabers, flaring with an angry green light. Descending jus as rapidly as he had shot upwards, Takeru came down between two Virgos, slicing them apart as he passed, letting them explode in the air.

Having no reason to be worried, Takeru decided not to go all out. He didn't have to finish everything quickly. Two Virgos charged in from above, another staying up in the sky to hail down attacks with its energy rifle. Both of the two charging Virgos had combined their shields, to make it stronger. Takeru nearly snorted aloud in disbelief, firing up the Neo's thrusters, and charging at them in returns, holding both beam sabers aloft. It was a game of chicken, and Takeru had no intention of losing it.

At the last possible second, the Neo adjusted its course, flying above the two Virgos, and coming around behind them. Not leaving them with enough time to react, Takeru thrust both beam sabers into the backs of the two Virgos, right over the cockpit area, and making the two explode into flames. He continued his charge, heading for the final Virgo located above him. He brought the Neo's shield about to protect the cockpit area from any direct hits, a useful thing, because it prevented one particular blast from killing him. The Virgo brought its shield up in a vain attempt to save itself, but Takeru rammed a beam saber into the shield, the force of his impact and the power of the blade being more than enough break through the barrier, and into the Virgo S beyond. The Virgo remained impaled on Takeru's beam saber for a moment, twitching in a grotesquely human fashion. Takeru deactivated the beam saber, returning the weapon to its socket, and letting the Virgo fall to the ground below.

He decided that he had had enough fun, quickly flying to the ground the retrieve his twin buster rifle. Ascending high into the sky, the Gundam's silhouette black against the moon, Takeru turned the Neo around, prepared to fire. He saw the Virgos below, approaching him with all speed, the closest ones firing their beam cannons in vain attempts to shoot him down. Scowling to himself, Takeru fired away.

The blast was like the finger of God, shining with the brilliance of day, and illuminating that corner of the world, if only for a brief moment. The space harbor was reduced to a charred crater, nothing more, as Takeru saw when the smoke cleared away. A smoldering hole in the ground. Slowly, his lips spread into a cold smile. His shoulders shook with quiet laughter, and all too soon he couldn't hold himself back. It had been so easy, destroying the harbor. It took him a moment, before his cynical laughter subsided, but he eventually calmed himself.

Turning the Neo Wing ZERO about, he fired up his thrusters, and sped towards the coast of France.

"Mission accomplished." He murmured aloud, a dark smile playing on his thin lips.

He was, perhaps, an hour into his flight away from the destroyed harbor. He knew that the attack unit in London would only just be sending someone out, to explore why contact hadn't been made. They would be far too late to save anything, let alone to catch him. Not only that, but by blowing out the fuse box, and cutting off communication, he had prevented them from revealing that it had been a Gundam that had destroyed the harbor, and the shipment of Virgo S Mobile Suits.

The lower left corner of the Neo's main screen flashed with an incoming message. Takeru's eyes tilted towards the words, scanning them briefly. Flicking on the autopilot to maintain speed, he gave the message his full attention.

"Mission orders." He murmured. "Explore the old Senate files, before the building is demolished. Look for information concerning Sven Lazarus. Will there even be anything there on him? I wonder…"

Takeru pondered the implications of this mission. Why would mission control ask him to look for information on Lazarus at the old Senate building, unless there was some sort of Senate record, for him?

"Mission accepted." He said stoically, changing the Neo's course for Moscow.

_-Somewhere in the Mediterranean…_

The night sky was just melting away, and the first rays of the sun's morning light washed the world in gold. It was truly a beautiful sight to behold, or so Inori would've thought, if she bothered to look up from what she was doing.

The Azure knelt within the midst of a secluded grove, the cockpit door wide open. Precariously perched atop her Gundam's left shoulder, near the base of the neck, she could be seen kneeling as well. She held a pocketknife in her hand, and a screwdriver was clenched tightly in her teeth. A look of complete determination was on her face, as she slid the knife's blade gently underneath the armored layer over the Azure's frame. After a few moments, the knife's blade tapped into something. Inori nodded to herself, and twisted the blade, so that the armor was held up. Taking the screwdriver from between her teeth, she slid the item up next to the knife, until it came across the same object the knife had hit. With a skillful flick of her wrist, she dislodged the small item, catching it as it flew into midair.

Inori examined the item, and snorted aloud. "Wonderful." She said, with obvious annoyance. "A tiny rock nearly makes the armor's pressure seal go haywire. Peachy frickin' keen." She tossed the miniscule object over her shoulder, jerking her pocketknife out of the Azure's armor, and snapping it shut with a skilled flick. Inori fell back on her hands, letting out a long sigh. She turned her eyes towards the horizon, admiring what was left of the beautiful colors as they faded away into the blue of the new morning sky.

"Man…" she whispered to herself, feeling the wind play with her night-colored, waist-length hair. "The lunar base was _never_ like this…"

The simulated breezes at the park had always felt room temperature, but here, on earth, they were cool, and they made her skin stand out in Goosebumps. It was far different from anything she had ever experienced up in space. Even though she still loved outer space, she had found herself warming over to the natural beauty of earth.

"Hmm…" an idea sparked behind her icy blue eyes. She clasped her hands behind her head, and leaned back, until she could feel the cool metal of the Azure's armor press against her skin. "Maybe, when this war is over, I'll use some of that vacation time I have. Yeah, I think I'll come back here, to this very spot…"

She closed her eyes, about ready to fall asleep, until a sound from the Azure's cockpit pulled her out of her peaceful state. She groaned in annoyance.

"And without any forms of communication!" she added as an after thought to her last remark. Reluctantly, she began to climb down from the Azure's shoulder, tossing her head to keep her long hair from getting in her eyes. She lightly hopped into the cockpit, climbing inside, and more or less falling into the pilot's seat.

"Okay, Crow, what do you want from me this time?" she asked the screen in a sarcastic tone of voice, even though the message was by typed word only. Resting the ankle of her right leg across the knee of her left, she rested her elbow on one, and caught her chin in her palm. She yawned as she skimmed through the mission assignment.

"Yeah, yeah, infiltration, discover how they control their pilots, anything else? Like how I'm going to do this?" she said in a bored voice, tapping a few keys to see the rest of the assignment.

"Wha-!" she fell back in her seat, already feeling the headache. "You want me to _what_? Oh, _damn_ you Crow! I just _knew_ you'd find an excuse to put me in a _skirt_, you crotchety old bastard! _Eeerrgghh!_"

­_-Moscow, Russia, 11 days later…_

The inner city of Moscow had been sealed away, on that day so many years ago, when OZ had attacked the Colonial Senate building. Since much of the inner city had been destroyed in the attack, many of it was left as it been, rubble that would never again be reconstructed. The OZ military faction in this city had built a wall about it, and posted a regular guard, to prevent infiltration.

Takeru had every intention of getting past that wall.

For the past few days, he had been watching the guards along the wall, memorizing the times at which they changed watch, noting the post of each soldier. It was clear that he'd have to wait until night, but he had yet to decide where would be the best place to cross the wall, however. It seemed that the guards in the northeastern-most sector were somewhat lazy, and didn't keep as sharp a lookout, but it was the wall farthest from the condemned senate building. The side closest had a shorter distance between posts, and the guards seemed more alert, probably new recruits who wanted to make a good impression, while the men up in the northeast sector were men who were used to all of this.

It was unfortunate, but Takeru's best option was the northeastern sector. It was sad, almost, that those who had more experience were leaving him with a bigger opening. After sitting at the park bench close to the northeast wall, munching half-consciously on a sandwich he had bought, Takeru decided that he had wasted enough time. Crumpling up the sandwich's wrapper in one hand, he tossed the useless wad of paper into the near-by trashcan. He shoved his hands into the pockets of his trenchcoat, keeping an eye trained on the soldiers, making certain they hadn't picked him out of the rest of the crowd as suspicious. Once a safe distance away, he began the long walk back to his hotel room.

He didn't know how much more time he had to complete his mission. From what he had been able to gather from various sources, an advocate of Lazarus would soon be arriving from outer space, at a base that had been established more than one hundred miles from Moscow. Takeru had been fortunate, and had found the remnants of an old Mobile Suit hangar, not too far between the both of them, and was keeping the Neo Wing ZERO there. From what he had heard, this advocate was under orders to demolish all that was left in the inner city. If he waited too long, Takeru wouldn't be able to find any information on Lazarus for his mission. There wouldn't be a senate building left to explore.

Tonight would probably be the best time to go, he already knew the duration at which the guards changed, every seven hours. The next time to change would be at ten o'clock, which left him with nearly five hours of preparation time. That was more than enough, for someone of Takeru's skill. He doubted that he'd need much beyond his handgun, and a silencer. He wouldn't be that careless, of course, and bring a few items for emergencies, but he would "travel light", to put it in words, he didn't want to be overloaded with things. His only clothes consisted of the few things he had brought in a duffel bag from the lunar base, something Dr. Crow had insisted that they put into their Gundams, long before they launched. He would probably be going in his jeans, and a black T-shirt. Any other clothing issues had to be handled by him, now that he was on earth.

The hotel room was empty. He had made a specialized request that the maid wait until he left, before cleaning the room, offering to do everything else, on his own. After a thorough check, he was satisfied that no one had been in the room. He pulled out the items he'd be using for the upcoming night, something that didn't take him long. Reclining on the bed, Takeru was left in silence with his thoughts. Sighing, he pushed himself off the bed. He wanted to take a shower before tonight's mission, he didn't know if he'd get another chance to bathe, after this, and he returned to the MS hangar, where the Neo was hidden.

The shadows of night were thick as blood, clinging to the walls and the plants like they were something tangible. Unseen within their blackened depths, Takeru slithered along the wall's side, causing no more noise than the light breeze that was already passing through. The sky was dark with clouds, no stars could be seen through the thick darkness, and the distant rumble of thunder would not be accompanied by either lightning, or rain. It was nothing but a dry storm, with mild winds that would do no more than stir the leaves.

He reached the place of his destination, about ten yards from the post, where the guard was already drifting away to sleep, with less than ten minutes to the next changing of the guard. The guard's replacement was coming, Takeru could hear his distant footsteps. Needing no rope to scale the wall, Takeru hauled himself up by clinging to the grooves between stones. His shoes did have spikes on the bottom to help him climb, but they could be easily removed, if the need arose. Once over the wall, he fell back into the shadows, awaiting the approaching guard. He had a little less than five minutes left, before the great church clocks began to toll.

To be on the safe side, he reached around behind himself, making certain his handgun was still tucked into the back of his jeans, and the silencer attached. Once certain of that, he froze, slowing down his breathing till it was less than audible. A bird may as well have landed on him as if he were a statue, he wouldn't have stirred for so much as a rock being thrown at him. Melted into the shadows as he was, it was impossible for the approaching guard to see him. Takeru couldn't help but crack a dark smile.

With a little less than two minutes, the guard clicked past in his steel-toed boots. Takeru melted out of the shadows, reaching an arm up around the soldier's neck, and pinching a pressure point at its base, between his forefinger and thumb. The soldier was silenced before being given a chance to struggle. Catching the soldier's body as he fell, Takeru began stripping him of his uniform and weapons, pulling the clothing over his jeans and T-shirt, snapping on the gun belt and swinging the assault rifle over his shoulder.

The first chime of sounded by the time he had finished. Takeru pulled out the gun kept tucked in behind his pants, using a few split seconds to make certain the silencer was on correctly. Pressing the barrel to the unconscious guard's forehead, he squeezed the trigger, preventing the guard from ever awakening. Skillfully taking up the body before any blood could be lost, and dropping it over the side of the wall, into the bushes below. Its resonating thud was masked by the chimes of the clock. Tucking his handgun back into the back of his pants, tipping the soldier's cap low, to cover his eyes, and continued on the soldier's original course to replace the other guard.

"Where the hell have you been?" the soldier yawned, stretching an arm behind his head.

Takeru shrugged, lowering his already deep voice, for something a little more believable of a thirty-year-old man, not eighteen, as he was. "So, I'm late. It's not as if anything's gonna happen."

The soldier conceded his point with a helpless nod. "Yeah, I guess you're right. I'm heading back to the barracks, now. I'm ready to fall unconscious for about a week." Takeru took over his post as he walked away, watching the soldier leave, out of the corner of his eye. Once the guard had gone beyond his sight, he leapt over the wall. He had seven hours, before the next change of shift. Takeru knew he had to hurry. Not only that, but the inner city was probably crawling with patrols, especially around the condemned senate building. He'd have to be beyond cautious.

The most difficult part of this mission had so far been avoiding the patrols that seemed to be all over the area. So far, Takeru had found himself to be right about the defenses of the inner city. The patrols were on foot, and carrying large flashlights. They seemed to twitch in reaction, every time something moved, even if it was only a leaf being tossed about on a breeze. At several points, Takeru had been forced to hide behind anything that was available, and freeze all motion, for what was a longer amount of time than he wanted to waste. The only motions he had really made towards the senate building were taking him much longer than he wanted.

Surprisingly, by the time he arrived at the condemned building, there weren't any guards, Of course, given the building's condition, he thought he understood why. It appeared as if most of the upper floors had caved in, and their weight was only just being held up by what remained of the other walls and floors.

From the floor plans he had been able to obtain from mission control, Takeru knew that the bottom floor would be devoid of any usable consoles. It was too dangerous to check the upper floors, which left him only with the option of the lower floors, many of which were possibly locked off, especially a floor with a computer containing the information he needed.

He ascended the great stairs to the entrance, taking each step slowly, and keeping his eyes trained on the area behind him, glancing ahead every other moment, or so. As a precaution, he had the rifle off his shoulder, cocked and ready for use. At the top of the stairs, he decided that it was safe enough. Shouldering the rifle, Takeru turned around, and found himself staring up at his great-grandfather's face.

For a long moment, Takeru stared up at the image of Heero Yuy, the Perfect Soldier, his ancestor. For most of his young life, Takeru had heard about this man, and how their family had vanished into history, after the incident involving the Barton Foundation. They had kept themselves guarded, Heero had returned to using his true name, after that, and they kept their alias of being superhuman hidden away. As the current generation of "Perfect Soldier", Takeru had used the last name of "Yuy", to keep his family protected. That way, people knew just who he had descended from, but could not trace him, after this had all ended.

The statue that had been made of his great-grandfather showed him as a young boy, when he had been the pilot of the Wing Gundam ZERO. It was the same for all the other pilots, he could see them all, young men of about fifteen, one with a long braid, that was Duo Maxwell. Another was dressed like something of a gentlemen, a gentle expression on his face, Quatre Raberba Winner. Next to him stood a tall and slender young man that could only be Trowa Barton. On the opposite of Heero, standing next to Duo, was another, a Chinese martial artist, his hair tied back at the base of his neck. That was Chang Wufei. Directly to Heero's right, there was another statue, between Quatre and himself. It was of a young girl, the same age as the Gundam pilots, her long hair intricately tied up into a braid that encircled her head. She was depicted as wearing a fine gown, and a crown on her head: Relena Darlian, or rather, Peacecraft. The woman who had begun the Earth Sphere Unified Nation, and built the Colonial senate. It was almost tragic, how her dreams of peace and total pacifism had come crumbling down, with her death. She had been so strong…

Takeru walked away from the tarnished bronze images, he had no time to reflect on the world's past, or his own lineage.

The first room he entered was grandiose in the design, a huge dome of a painted sky lay overhead. It was impressive, intended to give the impression of the possibilities in the future. It seemed more like a waste of the people's money, now that it was all in ruin. Following the blueprints in his head, Takeru followed the left corridor to the elevator. The doors were closed, but not sealed. H pulled out the knife he had taken from the dead soldier, jamming the slender blade into the crack between the doors.. Twisting it sharply, he managed to open the doors enough to fit his fingers through. From there, it was a small matter of prying the doors open. Holding one door open, he jammed a small piece of metal debris at its foot, to hold it open. He'd have further use for the knife, when he got to the according floor.

The elevator itself had long ago fallen down the shaft, no doubt, it had collapsed when the upper floors had caved in. Still, the wires remained suspended, and strong enough to support his weight, he didn't doubt. It was a small matter to jump out and grab a wire. After letting his eyes adjust to the greater darkness, he wrapped his leg around the wire, and let himself slide down the wire slowly, counting the doors as they went past. Two, three, four, the fifth door down, that was the floor he needed to get to. He used his weight to swing the wire over the door's edge, just barely grabbing onto an edge that was less than an inch wide. Once again using the knife to open the elevator doors, he made the opening big enough for his foot, first, before sliding one of the doors all the way open. This time using the knife to jam the door open, he hooked the cable over the knife's handle, to await his return. Should the building start crumbling around him, he wanted a fast escape.

Takeru counted the doors as he walked past, occasionally having to dodge or jump over some fallen debris, that must've come free when the upper floors collapsed. His footsteps landed with only a soft sound, and not because he was trying to remain silent, but as a result of the thick layer of dust that must've formed over the two years the semi-demolished building had had to fall apart.

Perhaps twenty or so doors down from the elevator's entrance, Takeru found the room he needed. The door wasn't locked, but had rusted shut, without care. It was no matter to Takeru, who simply backed off a few steps, and drove his leg into the door with a powerful kick, forcing it to fly open, and slam against to inside wall. He had nearly torn it off of its hinges, but, the building was falling apart, anyhow. He could see the console, just inside. A large piece of debris had fallen on it, and Takeru was forced to clear it away, praying that it hadn't been damaged very much. From appearance, the debris had only cracked the monitor screen, nothing for him to be worried about.

With a skillful hand, he activated the terminal, he already knew the basic military codes, and a good number of the higher level codes, as well. While it did take him a moment to find the necessary files, he soon worked his way into the personal database, breaking the code through what some would consider a complicated bypass. For someone of Takeru's skill, however, it was a simple matter. A question appeared on the screen, asking what information he wanted. He typed in the name of Sven Lazarus, requesting for all files regarding the man.

** Files found. ** the computer read, ** Reading files… **. Takeru waited patiently for the information to appear on screen, sliding a disk out of a hidden section of his clothing. He saved the information to disk, before reading through them.

"Let's see…" he began, his eyes quickly scanning over the words. "Lazarus, Sven Yohann. Nationality, Swedish. Born on May 22nd of A.C. 255, died A.C. 280." Takeru raised an eyebrow. He knew by the picture that this Sven Lazarus, and the one who led OZ were the same person, so why was it that his death was recorded here?

"Military Defense Advisor for the Colonial Senate," he continued, "Died in an accident when he tried to reactivate the former colony X-18999. It says here that he was attempting to convince the Senate to make it a military defense fortress, like Barge had been, only greater. He had been studying at the lunar base, and because of his high rank, it's no wonder he's using psionic technology and the Sub-ZERO system. Upon attempting to activate the long-unused colony, an explosion of huge proportions was set off, and all soldiers were consumed. No rescue shuttles were sent."

Takeru narrowed his eyes at that last sentence. Just what kind of fools had the Senate been? Not sending any rescue shuttles to check out what had happened? No wonder Lazarus had been able to build his army of Virgo S suits, with such a large factory up and running, Lazarus had been given seven years to build his army, and redesign the Virgos to what they were, now. He sighed angrily, knowing that all of this could have been prevented if the Senate had just bothered to send out someone to check out the colony, after that incident.

He ejected the disk, not wanting to waste any more time. He glanced at his watch, he had less than two hours to get out of the city, again. Slipping the disk back into the recesses of his stolen clothing, Takeru began his exit. At the elevator's entrance, he held the door open with his foot while freeing the knife, keeping the cable in one hand while he returned the knife to its rightful place on his person. Leaping out with the elevator cable in hand, he began his steady ascent of the makeshift rope, up the shaft. Once back at the doors he had first entered, he once again used his weight to swing himself to the open door, throwing the cable back behind him, and dislodging the piece of metal that had held the door open with his foot.

Not staying long enough to see if the doors shut, Takeru began leaving the building, jogging softly, not wanting to alert any guards that might have come near the senate building. He paused, just at the entrance, before the statue of his great-grandfather, before leaving. His chocolate brown eyes met with bronze, and he found himself turning away.

"Mission, accomplished." He murmured softly to the statue in departure, leaving his lineage behind him, and taking up whatever the future held for him.

_-Hong Kong, China…_

"Welcome, Mr. Bjornson." The soldier briskly greeted the tall American. As one of the men who served as a public spokesman for OZ, in outer space, John Bjornson had been ordered to come to the base far south of China's principle city. His shuttle from outer space had been rerouted to China, after landing in the Mediterranean to refuel. "We have a car awaiting you."

The soldier looked up at the young woman who stood beside Bjornson, her raven-colored hair neatly put up into a French twist, and held into place by a few hair sticks. Her spectacles were light of frame, and very slender, and yet, somehow seemed not to suit her lovely face, which was carefully, yet simply made up with only minor cosmetics. She wore a black skirt suit, a clipboard clutched in her hands. The low and simple black heels she wore increased her already impressive height of five feet and nine inches.

"This young lady must be the assistant you spoke of." The soldier said, bowing before the slender and beautiful young woman. "Miss…?"

"Kanzaki." She said, her voice like soft wind chimes. She opened her eyes, their intense color of ice blue catching the soldier off guard, even making him start. They were gentle, but so intense as to make him speechless. "Yuzuriha Kanzaki."

The soldier found himself to still be bowing, he had been so surprised by the intensity of her eyes, he had forgotten completely. He stood swiftly, clearing his throat to cover up his mistake and rudeness.

"Yes, we, uh, have a car, awaiting the both of you." He said nervously, never taking his eyes off of Bjornson's assistant, who had closed her eyes, once again. "If the two of you will just follow me, we'll escort you to your, uh, escort to the base."

Both Bjornson and his assistant followed the now-nervous soldier as he led them outside the airport, and to the prepared car. He held open the door for the two VIPs grateful to see the young woman get in first, and cross her legs neatly. Bjornson followed his assistant into the car, sitting in the limo across from her. The door swung shut with a click, leaving the two alone in the emptiness of the limo's interior.

In the recesses of her mind, "Yuzuriha" felt Bjornson's struggle to fight against the strength of her powers. She opened her eyes, frowning slightly.

_Ah, ah, ah!_ She warned the man telepathically, _I wouldn't do that, you'll only be making it more painful for yourself. There's no use fighting me, Mr. Bjornson. By the time we arrive at the base, you won't even remember the name of your true assistant, all of your memories will have been so thoroughly edited. After all, I'm the best assistant you've ever had, right?_

"Yuzuriha" turned her head to look out of the tinted window, keeping a firm mental grip on Bjornson. Using her psionics like this always left her with such a horrible migraine, when she was finished. It would be even worse, because of the extent to which she was using her telepathy, which was so dangerous. Worse still, psionics of her high generation couldn't use basic pain killers, they had to be specially prescribed. She was fortunate that she had brought her own migraine pills with her, however, it would just be a while before she could take them.

She sighed to herself, pulling off the useless glasses that she had brought, only for show. This was going to be a long trip.

_Russia, south of Moscow…_

His escape from the inner city had gone much more smoothly than his infiltration. After reaching the wall, Takeru had only to wait for the next soldier to come, and "relieve" him of duty. Once out of the soldier's sight, he leapt back into the main city itself, and proceeded to discard his stolen soldier's clothing, burning it in the fire place of his hotel room, but keeping the rifle and knife. After that, it was a short matter for him to clear out of the hotel room, checking out without question, the following morning. The one soldier's body still hadn't been discovered, and he left that morning for the abandoned military Mobile Suit docks, where the Neo Wing ZERO was hidden.

Takeru found himself reclining on the catwalk, near his Mobile Suit. He glanced down at the Neo, his expression blank. He had sent the information on Lazarus to mission control, and shortly there after received another mission order. The VIP that would be arriving shortly, who would arrange for the deconstruction of Moscow's inner city, would land at the military base, not too far from this location. It was his mission to kill that VIP, but without using the Neo Wing ZERO. He was to make it appear like a terrorist attack, which weren't too uncommon, in this day and age. There were many guerilla attacks on the bases of the new OZ, some even doing things "In the name of Relena Peacecraft", or something as equally ridiculous.

Takeru snorted at the thought, it was all well and good for them to want to fight OZ, but they should've realized, all that had once been of the great era sculpted by Relena Peacecraft's hands, was left like her statue had been. A tarnished image, distant as a dream. They shouldn't be fighting in the name of her ordeals, but of their own.

Still, Takeru had bigger things to worry about. The VIP would be arriving in three days, which gave him only a little time to organize an attack that looked like an authentic terrorist grouping. His eyes glanced further down the docks, to the group of Leos that still stood. The museum of Moscow had left these old Mobile Suits here, after they found no further use for them, and had then totally misplaced them. Takeru had known about this place, however, and knew that it was out of the way, and abandoned, no one would be coming around.

He decided that these old Leos would be best to use, with a little bit of work, he could have one working just as well as it would have, almost one hundred years earlier. The only problem was, there was little in the way of weaponry. He could take one of the beam sabers from his Gundam, but a single beam saber wouldn't be much help against so many Virgo S units, which he knew there would be plenty of. Not only that, but he didn't have long, to get this Leo moved near the base. He glanced further down, into the darkness. He caught the gleam of metal, against something that wasn't a Mobile Suit. He whistled in curiosity, and took out the flashlight he kept near his MS, in case he had to check for any debris, in the joints.

He was hardly phased by the darkness, walking down the catwalk with an almost casual stride. He didn't even bother to turn on the flashlight, not until he came upon what it was that he was looking for. The pale light cut through the darkness like a blade, showing him the rough shape of a suspended beam weapon of sorts. The bulk of it was covered by a rather large tarp, but the barrel of the weapon stuck out, dust covered, but still visible. Takeru reached out a hand, grasping the tarp in his fist, and pulling it off with all his strength, rather easily.

Takeru gave a low whistle as the weapon was unveiled, a dark grin forming on his normally expressionless face. A Virgo beam cannon, from one of old Mobile Dolls used by White Fang, so many decades ago. That would turn out to be very useful, for his next mission. Switching off his flashlight, Takeru turned about to go and make some repairs to one of the Leos, he needed to get the one most operable onto a transport by tonight, along with his added beam saber, and that beam cannon.

This would make everything much easier, for him. Takeru wasn't one to underestimate an enemy, and he didn't like the fact he was going into battle with such limited resources. However, orders were orders, and he wasn't complaining about what he had. Besides, he wasn't the great-grandson of Heero Yuy for nothing. It wasn't his style to do things in a round about manner. His father had always called him "Wakai Ookami", Young Wolf, because he always went for the throat of the problem. He had no intention of backing away from this, just because of a lack of supplies.

Takeru wasn't one to question orders.

_-OZ military base, Southeast China…_

"These are your quarters, Miss Kanzaki." The young soldier opened the door to the room for her, letting her walk in ahead of himself. Yuzuriha scanned the room briskly, eyeing the terminal on the far left of the room. There was a small kitchen, a rather basic living room, and a door that far end. She guessed that was the bedroom, and the bathroom was inside. "Are they to your satisfaction, ma'am?"

"They'll do." She said in a bored tone of voice, "When can I expect my bags?"

"Within the next hour, ma'am." The soldier said briskly.

"All right then. Thanks for the escort."

The soldier saluted, and closed the door behind him. She waited until she was certain he was gone, then sighed, throwing herself down on the couch. She kicked off the black high heels she was wearing with a grateful sigh, pulling out the two hair sticks that held her midnight-colored hair in place, and letting it cascade back down to her waist. She removed the spectacles, folding them, and placing them on the table before her. With her left hand, she unbuttoned the black jacket of her suit, pulling it off, and letting her long-sleeved blouse free. She tossed the jacket over the back of the couch, kicking her bare feet up on the table, and clasping her hands behind the back of her head.

The transformation was amazing. In only a few moments, she had gone from "Yuzuriha Kanzaki" to her original self, Inori Kazama, in a nice skirt and a white blouse. It was a real pain, the way she had to make herself up like that. Being someone who only wore skirts for special occasions, and even then, it was very rarely, Inori made herself appear to be a totally different person. She had assimilated the role Yuzuriha rather well. Since they had both been Japanese in origin, and similar of build, with Yuzuriha being shorter than herself, the only thing she couldn't mask with cosmetics or clothing were her eyes. Fortunately, she knew that no one would bother checking on her identity for quite some time.

Inori rubbed the temple of her head, her migraine was near unbearable! Reluctantly, she stood, and meandered over to the kitchen, praying for some water, at the very least. She fished around in the cabinets for a clean glass, and filling it with tap water once she did. Walking back to her purse, she fished out a small bottle of medication, cracking open the top, and pouring out two pills for herself. She dropped the tablets onto her tongue, swallowing with the water. It would still be a while, before they took affect. Ten, maybe fifteen minutes, all filled with mind-ridden agony. Fortunately for her, Inori had long ago learned how to deal with migraine pain. If she hadn't, she wouldn't have been able to control her psionics as well as she did.

A soft knock on the door turned her head. Inori dropped her medication bottle back into her purse, putting on the high heels with a quiet groan. She swept up her suit jacket with one arm, buttoning it up the front swiftly. She was about to open the door, when she remembered the glasses.

"Just a moment!" she called, dashing back over to the couch, and sweeping up the slender spectacles with one hand. She adjusted them while putting them on, even though she had no use for them, and decided to leave her hair down. That trip had worn her out, so there was nothing wrong with being genuinely tired of keeping her hair up so tightly. It made her migraine worse, anyway. Reaching out, she opened the door.

"Can I help you, soldier?" she said, sounding genuinely exhausted.

"No, ma'am. I've just come to deliver your bags." The soldier said.

"Oh, well in that case, come on in." she returned with a dry, half smile, opening the door wider for the soldier to drag in her luggage. Everything in those bags had been replaced by things that would fit Inori's height, along with her regular clothing, as well. She knew that the much shorter, and now deceased, Yuzuriha wouldn't really be able to provide her with clothing that fit, so she had taken the liberty of changing out bags with her, at the airport in the Mediterranean. The only down side was, she had to ship her Gundam to the small dock, just 57 miles northeast of the base. Fortunately, she had found the perfect guy to entrust her Gundam to. Since his family owned a worldwide, and space-wide salvage and repair company, eighteen-year-old David Maxwell had been more than willing to help out the rogue Gundam pilot with her shipping problem. She was to meet him at the docks, within the next two days, when her Gundam would be arriving, by water. He had already made arrangements for a storage hanger, with a couple of barracks rooms on the side, for him to stay in as well as another spare room for her to use, when her mission was finished.

Inori smiled to herself, remembering how she had encountered Maxwell. She had just been wandering the docks of a city, pondering which company would be the best to use, to send her Gundam. Through the open doors of a warehouse, she heard someone yelling very loudly in English, shouting profanities about OZ, and its soldiers, followed by a loud crash, and a single, drunken soldier being thrown out of the doors. Being curious, Inori had peeked in, and saw the young man, with his three-foot long hair braided down his back, dressed something like a minister, but wearing black jodhpurs, like for riding a horse. While his choice of clothing and hairstyle made her eyebrow raise a little, they way he was handling those soldiers made her applaud, until one of them pulled a gun on him.

Sighing in frustration, she then decided it was time for her to step in. Giving a shrill whistle, she drew the soldier's attention away from him, and onto herself. She had figured that, since the soldier's all seemed to be so attracted to her fit and slender build, there was no reason it shouldn't work now. She proved herself right, much to her own disgust. However, she rid both herself and Maxwell of the soldier's threat with a few well-placed pressure point grips, sending them all into a dream world.

Maxwell had been stubborn, and insisted that he could've handled them by himself, but also said that he wasn't complaining, being saved by such a "Beautiful girl." Inori had snorted, and then asked his name. Since he turned out to be the great-grandson of the same Duo Maxwell who had piloted the Deathscythe, he sort of bragged about it, probably trying to impress her. Inori had only snorted at him again, and then made him her offer. She teased him at first, then bluntly gave him the entire story about her Gundam, and her next mission. Maxwell had agreed willingly, almost eagerly, even offering to transport the Azure, free of charge.

"Just knowing that I'm helping to bring OZ down is more than enough for me. I don't care about the consequences!" is what he had said. That had been the beginning of what Inori found to be an interesting, and often amusing, relationship.

A striking pain in her head brought her out of that little reverie, her migraine was still flailing about inside her skull. It hurt too much, to even think! With a pained and aggravated sigh, Inori picked herself up off of the couch, deciding to take a nap, before putting her things away. She could make plans later. Right now, all she wanted was for the construction crew inside her head to take a sabbatical!

_-OZ Military Base, Southeast Russia…_

The officers of this base had gone all out for the arrival of Lazarus' advocate. A red carpet had been rolled out, waiting at the base of stairs that led down from the shuttle. Virgo S units surrounded the area, with five or six guarding the shuttle itself. Soldiers rimmed the carpet, at sharp attention, their rifles on their shoulders. It was almost extravagant, for such a simple military base.

The door to the shuttle opened with a hiss, and the man stepped out, wearing the red uniform of an OZ lieutenant. His brushed his fingers along his neatly trimmed goatee, scanning the reception critically. Nothing seemed amiss, and it was all in all, a rather decent reception. With a twisted smile to himself, he began his descent of the stairs.

There came an explosion to the far right, one of the military warehouses, which stored civilian labor Mobile Suits. The doors were blown apart, a rustic-looking Leo stepping out into the open area. The Virgos had only just reacted, identifying the Leo as an enemy. They were too slow, for the Leo, however, as it roughly aimed at the shuttle, and fired its beam cannon. The Virgo pilots were programmed only to protect themselves, not the shuttle. They all leapt out of the beam's path, leaving the shuttle, and the soldiers, vulnerable to the attack. The shuttle exploded in a violent reaction, all those out in the open were vaporized, not even ashes remaining to prove their existence.

Takeru smiled darkly to himself as the shuttle exploded, but he had no time to allow himself any more in the way of a victory smile. The Virgos descended on him violently, their shields crackling with energy. Takeru had time to give off another blast, aiming it at the general mass of Virgos. Using the blinding light as cover, he began his escape, throwing as much as he could into the Leo's throttle, and using the thrusters to speed his escape. He crashed through many of the smaller warehouses, using the beam cannon the clear away any obstacles in his path. A Virgo S landed before him, and Takeru discarded the beam cannon, knowing that it wouldn't do him any good. He drew the Neo's enhanced beam saber from under the Leo's shield, bringing the arm up in a viscous downward chop.

The enhanced power of the beam saber was enough to break through the Virgo S unit's electrical shield, forcing it to throw up its own shield in defense. However, it hadn't been Takeru's intention to get into a dogfight with the Virgo. In a brilliant display of piloting skill, Takeru used the Virgo as a vault, twisting the angle of the Leo's thrusters to make it flip over the Virgo, landing on its feet in a run, on the other side. Twisting his beam saber, he shoved the dangerous weapon through the cockpit from behind, disabling the Virgo from the battle. Using the Leo's thrusters to speed his escape once more, Takeru sped away from the battle. A good number of Virgo S units were hot on him, but his superior piloting skill allowed him to avoid the beam rifle and cannon attacks. The run back to that Mobile Suit dock would be long, and highly treacherous. He still had the Virgo Beam cannon, strapped tightly to the Leo's back, but he didn't know how much longer the energy would last, and didn't want to trust it.

All Takeru could, for now, was run on, hoping he could get to the abandoned docks, putting the Virgo S units within the range of the Neo's field jammers, so he could finally get into a real battle, and use his Gundam, instead of this P.O.S. Leo!

The chase went on for a long while, Takeru had been forced to abandon the beam cannon long ago. Not only was its bulk and weight slowing down his escape, but the energy had run out. He was now relying solely on his beam saber, shield, and sheer skill to overcome his enemies. He was so close to the dock! The Virgo S units were having their feedback communications jammed by the Neo Wing ZERO, since he had left the jammers on, when he left. It was only another mile or two, before he could abandon the Leo, and trade it out for his Gundam. He had avoided all the attacks, so far, but he knew that the Leo's response was slow, he didn't know how much longer he could keep it up.

His answer came in the form of a Virgo S, descending from above, and colliding with his Leo, forcing the slower suit to crash and slide along the ground, as the thrusters burned themselves out. Using its beam cannon, the Virgo destroyed the Leo's right leg, preventing Takeru from escaping further.

Takeru grunted at his apparent defeat. Only a mile further, and he would've succeeded. He sighed, almost as if in helpless defeat, and reached for the self-detonation device.

A great shadow fell from the sky, demon wings spread rampant as it landed before the Virgo S and the trapped Leo. Takeru was startled by this turn of events. Another Gundam had arrived, the one Doctor Crow had named the Seraph. The left arm beam cannon snapped to attention, aimed at the Virgo S, and fired, the blast burning the Mobile Suit into ashes. The beam came dangerously close to destroying Takeru, along with the Virgo S. The Gundam's pilot didn't really seem to care, however. Raising the beam cannon at the seven remaining Virgos, the power of the beam pushing its way through their electrical shields, and annihilating the Mobile Suits in midair.

Takeru grit his teeth in a somewhat angry expression. He forced the Leo to push up its upper torso, enough for him to open the cockpit, and get out. In the cool breeze of the evening, Takeru stared up at the Seraph as its own cockpit opened up, and its pilot stepped out. Their eyes clashed, even from that distance. Chocolate brown against a soulless black. Somewhere in the pit of his stomach, Takeru got the distinct feeling that he wouldn't be getting along with this man, whose eyes were colder than outer space.

"Takeru Yuy."

"Rem Angelique."

Those were the only words that had been spoken between the two of them. Both got the distinct feeling that the other was sizing the other up. It seemed as if no other words were needed in explanation. While eyeing each other with grudging respect, they also didn't, and wouldn't, trust the other.

Rem had carried Takeru back to the abandoned dock, in the hand of the Seraph. Even then, they hadn't said anything to each other, not until they were face to face. Takeru was the first to turn away. There was just something about Rem's presence that made a bitter taste rise in his mouth. Takeru returned to the Neo Wing ZERO, and started on detail repairs. He wanted the Neo in near perfect condition, before leaving. It was already starting to look a bit beat up, to him, even though its armor still held its shiny luster. He stood alongside the Neo, running a full diagnostics check, from the outside terminal. He didn't want to deal with any distractions, right now.

He didn't hear Rem approaching, the young man's footsteps were light as featherfall. Only when the Seraph's pilot was directly behind him, did Takeru feel his presence, and glance up. Rem was admiring the Neo, his black, marble-like eyes almost caressing the Gundam with their gaze. There was still something behind those dark eyes, something Takeru didn't trust.

"It's truly worthy of its name." Rem commented, his voice soft with admiration. "The creators of the Wing ZERO would truly be impressed with what Crow and the designers on the Lunar Base have come up with.

"I had always thought the Seraph to be impressive." He continued, walking forward, closer to the cockpit. "But I must admit, the Neo Wing ZERO puts even my Gundam to shame…"

Takeru stood slowly, setting aside the diagnostics output from the Neo. His hands formed fists at his sides, he could feel his eyes narrow, involuntarily. Rem seemed to be lost, though, as he fondly gazed at the Neo.

"It's almost fitting, the Neo Wing ZERO, being piloted by the next generation of Perfect Soldier. It fits all together rather… perfectly, I'd say."

Takeru had heard Rem's tone of voice change, at the last part of his sentence. One of his feet fell back, into a more defensive stance. Rem whirled, his shoulder length raven hair settling over his right eye, as before. Takeru saw the dangerous gleam in those eyes. Despite Rem's passive stance, with his arms folded across his chest, Takeru could feel him tensing, like a hunting cat, before pouncing.

"Or, are you?" he said, almost hissing the words. "Is it really that perfect of a match, I wonder? Are you as worthy of your name… as the Neo is of its?"

"Why don't you find out." Takeru flatly stated, his eyes cold and devoid of any feeling.

"I think I will." Rem hissed, his eyes narrowing. With speed that was surprising for someone of Rem's height, Takeru was almost caught off guard as the lissome man came in at him. He blocked Rem's rising knee, prancing backwards from the assault, and falling into a defensive stance, when Rem's attack wasn't followed up. His eyes narrowed simultaneously with the taller pilot's. Rem smiled darkly, but Takeru's expression never changed.

He was prepared for the next attack, Rem coming in fast and hard with a low punch. Takeru sidestepped slightly to the right, letting Rem's fist fly past. He caught his arm, twisting it out, and brought his foot up straight. The kick would've landed squarely in Rem's face, had he let his momentum carry him forward. Using his agility to his advantage, Rem spun to the side, forcing Takeru to let go of his arm. He followed up with a sharp kick, intended for Takeru's mid-section. Takeru blocked the kick, spinning inside Rem's defenses, and landing a solid punch in his chest.

Takeru looked up in amazement, letting his surprise show. That punch would've driven anyone away, leaving them gasping for breath. Rem didn't seem very much affected by it, though, and kept enough wits about him to smirk at Takeru, as he Judo-chopped his shoulder. That forced Takeru to his knees with a grunt, but he wasn't defeated so easily, and swept Rem's legs out from under him. Standing quickly, Takeru raised his leg in an axe kick, dropping his heel heavily. He found his foot meeting with the cold steel of the catwalk, instead of Rem's body. Rem had rolled backwards, away from the attack, into a handstand, then onto his feet. Takeru fell back into his defensive stance, awaiting Rem's next attack.

"Hmmm… ha. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!" Rem suddenly erupted into laughter, throwing his head back without any care for Takeru's anger. Expecting another attack, Takeru tightened his defensive posture.

"Yes, I see it now…" Rem continued, still shaking with laughter. "That old bastard Crow made an excellent decision in selecting you. You're every bit my match, maybe better! You truly are the next generation of perfect soldier."

Rem turned around, and began walking back towards the Seraph. Takeru relaxed, but only a little. Rem paused, regarding Takeru with one last look.

"Oh yes…" he said, "This will be very interesting, I think. Interesting, indeed." Rem walked on to the Seraph, paying Takeru no more heed.

Takeru found himself clenching a fist anger. Rem's performance in that brief skirmish had proven to Takeru that he wasn't someone to take lightly. His eyes narrowed, as he promised to remember this, then turned away from Rem's shadow, as he walked away. He finished up with his diagnostics check, sharply unplugging the outside terminal, and gathering his things. He fell into the Neo's pilot seat, hearing the cockpit close with a hiss as he strapped himself in. A message appeared in the lower left-hand corner of his main screen. Another mission. His eyes skimmed the words, a shipment of Virgo S units would be arriving in Southeast China, in about ten days. It wasn't all that far to China, from where he was now.

"Mission, accepted." He growled, gripping the Neo's controls tightly. He didn't want to spend any more time in Rem's presence, anyhow. The Neo Wing ZERO started to life, Takeru guiding it out of the abandoned dock. Once outside, he converted the Mobile Suit into its fighter form, using a vertical take off. He streaked across the evening sky, stopping only to collect his beam saber from the mostly demolished Leo. He would remember Rem. Something in the back of his mind told him that, he'd be fighting Rem once again, some time in the future.

_-Southeast China, dockside…_

Inori smiled in relief, as soon as she saw the Azure inside the warehouse. Maxwell had arrived earlier than expected, and already had the Azure safely transferred into one of the Mobile Suit warehouses. She got the distinct feeling that she had made the right choice, in trusting Maxwell.

"So, whaddya think?"

Inori turned to regard the American with a smile. "Maxwell, you did so good, I could kiss you!" she enthused. But then, by the interested look in his eyes, she quickly added "But I won't"

"Aww." David deflated, and shrugged helplessly. "Oh well. I guess you can't expect to get lucky, _every_ time."

"And just what's that supposed to mean?" she teased. Inori looked back at the Azure, approaching her Gundam without ceremony. She wanted to run a systems check.

"What's up with the OZ engineer's uniform?" David teased back, regaining a little of his pride by picking on her strange appearance.

"Huh? Oh, this." Inori looked at the coveralls with a somewhat disgusted expression. "Well, I couldn't get off the base as Yuzuriha Kanzaki, so I smuggled myself out with soldiers who were going into town. Did you bring my motorcycle?"

"Yeah, it's over by the back of the warehouse."

"Great, that way, I don't have to worry about being late." She laughed. Pulling herself into the kneeling Azure's cockpit, she started up the systems, running a diagnostics check on all systems. Everything checked out all right, and she sighed in relief, sending a mission status report to mission control.

"Hey," Maxwell said in curiosity, "Just what is your mission, anyway?"

"I have to learn how it is that they're controlling their pilots." She said, not really paying attention. Maxwell shrugged, turning around, and leaning against the Azure with a yawn.

"All right, that's it, for now." Inori sighed in finality, leaping out of the cockpit, past a startled Maxwell. "I'd better get back to the base, now. Before they get suspicious."

She ran down to one end of the warehouse, finding her motorcycle leaning against the wall. She took it by the handles, and walked it down to the entrance.

"Take care of the Azure, for me. Until I can come back, in the next two or three days, okay?" she called down to David, opening the door, and guiding her bike out into the fading sunlight. Kicking the engine to life, she drove out into the open roads of China, back to the military base. Maxwell was left with sighing helplessly. He decided to go ahead and get his things in the barracks. It wasn't as if he could do anything else, anyway.

It was the seventh day she had been here, and Inori still hadn't learned anything useful. The man who was her and Mr. Bjornson's escort, a lieutenant Melzas, who seemed to consider Inori as nothing more than something that should've stayed behind, hadn't showed them anything important, in the slightest. It was beginning to get annoying. Even Bjornson, with his mind so thoroughly edited, was on the verge of snapping at the man.

Inori growled under her breath, as Melzas lead them through yet another bland tunnel, that no doubt led to yet another pointless laboratory or control room, and the boring lecture that awaited them. Once she found herself right, Inori let out an audible groan.

"Is something the matter, Miss Kanzaki?" Melzas asked her, his superior tone of voice setting her nerves on edge.

_What do you think, you arrogant son of a bitch?_ She thought angrily.

"I should say so, lieutenant." Bjornson said, in the same frustrated tone of voice. Melzas seemed genuinely surprised at Bjornson's comment.

"What do you mean, sir?"

"Melzas," Bjornson growled, "You've been bull-shitting us for the past six days. Everything you've shown us has been the same as the thing before it. I didn't come here for you to show off your bloody base. I came to understand how OZ's pilots are controlled."

Melzas seemed to be at a loss. Inori agreed whole-heartedly with her "employer", and couldn't help but crack a smile at the lieutenant's shocked expression.

'Well, I…" Melzas stuttered, then sighed in frustration. "Very well, Mr. Bjornson. I'll take you to see our lower facilities, now."

"Finally." Bjornson said it more as a statement, than in relief. Inori thought that she had detected a bit of sarcasm in his tone, as well. Melzas led them back through the hallways, the down another corridor that they hadn't been through, before. It was heavily guarded, from what Inori could tell, a soldier on each side, every ten or fifteen feet. Melzas brought them before a pair of blast doors, a handprint and retinal scanner on the right. Melzas used both of these, before the doors opened, revealing an elevator. Bidding for them to enter.

It seemed like they were descending deep into the earth, but Inori knew better. While the pressure did change, Inori could tell that they were only a quarter of a mile into the earth's surface, by the time the elevator stopped. They stepped out into a small commons area. A few chairs were strewn about, as well as tables. A window to the right revealed a Mobile Suit hangar, Virgo S units docked along the catwalk. The white washed walls gave it a whole sci-fi movie feel to it. Inori was unimpressed.

"Miss Kanzaki, I must ask that you remain here." Melzas interrupted her thought. Inori's eyes widened in angry surprise.

"What?" she asked flatly, her hands balling into fists at her sides.

"I'm sorry, but what is beyond this room is not for civilian eyes."

_In other words, you don't think a woman has the intelligence of a post, and you don't want to let any girls into your club._ She thought angrily.

"Please, Yuzuriha. Let's just do as he asks, for now." Bjornson said calmly, tipping her chin towards him so she could look into his eyes. In that split instant of physical contact, Inori's eyes flashed eerily, as she initiated a telepathic link. She was going to see what was beyond those doors, regardless of whether it was through her own eyes, or not.

"All right then, Mr. Bjornson." She said, somewhat diminutively, and sat down in one of the chairs in the room. She watched Melzas lead Bjornson to the far wall, her eyes dark with intent. Melzas looked up at one of the cameras in the room, nodding to it. Part of the white washed wall fell back, and slid to the side, allowing Melzas and Bjornson to walk inside. The wall slid back into a smooth surface once they'd entered. Inori leaned back into her chair, crossing her legs, and folding her hands across her lap. She closed her eyes, feeling her way along the psionic link with Bjornson. Since she had successfully penetrated his mind before, it was much easier for her to do a second time, and she hoped to god the migraine would be worth it.

She blinked her eyes once or twice, and found herself looking through Bjornson's eyes. He was following Melzas down a guarded corridor, and through another set of blast doors. Looking around, Inori/Bjornson found that Melzas had led her/him into the Mobile Suit hanger. Virgo S units towered above them, their cockpits open, to reveal the pilot inside. The pilots were blank faced, their eyes open, but devoid of anything that marked them as human. They almost seemed to be connected to the Mobile Suit, their eyes were open, but unseeing. Inside her own thoughts, Inori did the mental equivalent of narrowing her eyes, and staring up in anger at what had become of so many people.

"This is where our pilots are loaded into their Virgo S Mobile Suits, and their primary orders are implanted, as well as piloting abilities, and what not. You might say that we 'upload' the data, into their minds." Melzas said with a chuckle.

"Why would you describe it like that?" Bjornson asked.

"Well, in order to prepare our pilots, we first have to erase all their memories. When we're finished with that, all that's left is their subconscious mind. That alone holds any memory of who they were. After that, it's a simple matter of using the same process to implant what it is we want them to know. We literally program them to be the perfect killing machine.

"They're superior to those ancient Mobile Dolls, in every way. Because of what we put into their minds, they instantly have the reaction time and fighting capabilities of Mobile Dolls. However, because of what remains in their subconscious mind, the human desire to survive, at all costs, gives them that edge of unpredictability. This makes them far more dangerous than any Mobile Doll could ever be."

"Impressive." Bjornson conceded. Inori did the mental equivalent of shaking her head.

_Unfortunately, it also destroys the spirit_, she thought in pity. _It separates the heart from the memories, the most precious things we have in our short lives. Without memories, the mind has only a blank will, that knows only that it must survive. If that means fighting, and killing off hundreds of innocent people, then so be it._

This was the closest she had gotten to completing her mission, yet. Still, it wasn't enough. Inori still had to learn how they erased the memories of those pilots. Then, and only then, could she complete her mission. Once she learned that, she could destroy this base, and all of its horrible secrets.

"So then, Mr. Bjornson." Melzas said, "Does this satisfy your questions?"

"Not quite." Inori urged Bjornson into saying. "I'm still curious, just how do you erase the pilot's memories?"

"Ah, well… Why don't we save that for another time." Melzas said. "In a few days, when they're ready to prepare a few more pilots, I'll bring you down to see the process."

Inori seethed, wanting to shout at Melzas in every possible profanity she ever knew. Her anger was feigned, though, and she knew it. Today had been helpful. She just had to wait a little longer. Inori was suddenly very grateful that she was so patient, otherwise, she would've had Bjornson kill Melzas, where he stood.

Until then, Inori could do some work on her Gundam, and get it ready for when she could finally destroy this place.

Takeru found himself wandering the docks of the town. It was only a small community, the biggest part of it centered around the shipping and storage facilities on the docks. Many of those warehouses were large enough to hold a good number of Mobile Suits, probably for civilian labor suits, like there had been at the military base earlier, when he was using that Leo. That brought back the bitter memory of his battle with Rem, and Takeru immediately discarded that train of thought.

The sun was melting into the ocean, painting the waves with gold. It was something that Takeru felt he could almost appreciate, but the beauty of it was marred by the poison of humanity, he knew that, and turned away. The shipment of Virgo S units would be arriving in the next two days, he needed to find a place to hide his Gundam, after it was finished. One of these warehouses would be the best option, since they were designed to hold Mobile Suits, anyway. Not only that, but he could probably get parts for repair, here, as well. His eyes scanned the rows of warehouses, settling on one in particular. At the far end of the docks, there was a particularly large warehouse, most likely designed to hold Mobile Suits in repair. Nodding to himself, Takeru proceeded on in the storage facility's direction.

Close to the warehouse's entrance, he heard the sound of what he thought to be the sound of someone eating. He caught the distinct smell of Chinese take-out amongst the salty ocean scent that hung in the air. Raising an eyebrow in curiosity, he slowed his steps, not wanting to alert anyone to his presence. The chewing sounds got louder, followed by a loud gulp. Takeru raised his eyebrow higher. He didn't know that anyone could eat so loudly. Coming to the corner, Takeru stopped, bringing just enough of his face around to see who was there with his right eye.

A young man sat, leaning against the open door of the facility, a small box of what appeared to be Lo Mein before him, chopsticks shoved into the food, and a large bottle of some obscure soft drink. He appeared to be about eighteen, his three-foot braid was swung over one shoulder, and he wore only a muscle shirt and a black pair of jodhpurs. He wasn't overly muscled, somewhat lean, actually, and obviously American. He yawned, stretching his arms out wide, then clasping his hands behind his head. He glanced to his right, inside the small, man-sized door that he had left open. He looked for a long time, then seemed to get bored.

"Y'know." He said, to someone inside. "You really don't make that good of a conversationalist, Azure." The boy looked back out over the open waves. Takeru froze at the word "Azure". That had been the name of the other Gundam, besides the Seraph. While Takeru had never met the pilot, he knew distinctly what the Gundam looked like, a slender framed thing, designed something like a woman's form, with two pair of dragonfly like wings that served as thrusters. The reason for the Azure's slight build was for the pressure seal on the armor. The Azure was capable of achieving such insane speeds, that its armor had to be specially tightened with a pressure seal, which made it more resistant to tougher attacks. It was actually a rather ingenious piece of work. Dr. Crow had also been very fond of the new-style Gundam, and always said that he couldn't have selected a more perfect pilot, for it.

Takeru knit his brows together. Was this guy the Azure's pilot? Or, was he just fooling himself, and was there just someone in there who went by the name or nickname of "Azure"?

The boy got up with a yawn, picking up his food and drink. He put the straw of his drink to his lips, and started siphoning what he could out of it, making unpleasant slurping sounds as he walked back inside. He either forgot to close the door, or had the intention of coming back to close it. Either way, Takeru knew that he had better get in, before the door was closed.

With steps as soft as a hurried breeze, he slipped inside, and melted into the shadows, moving away from the barracks doors, of which there were two, and one bathroom, it appeared, with one of those large showers, and multiple sinks. Glancing back, he saw that one of those two doors was open, the same young man coming back out of it, and walking towards the entrance, shutting the door, and bolting it shut. Takeru turned his attention to the warehouse itself, scanning the catwalks and empty Mobile Suit docks. All except one.

The Gundam Azure filled that dock. So, this boy was the Azure's pilot? Takeru melted out of the shadows, no longer concerned about hiding himself. He approached the Azure, even now, finding it to be an impressive machine. It was still in excellent condition, its pressure seal required a higher level of skill to repair it, so there was no wondering about it. It was no less formidable than his own Gundam, and with the right pilot, an easy match in battle. If the Azure was being held here, Takeru saw no reason he shouldn't have the Neo held here, as well.

"Hey!" the voice of the young man came echoing across the warehouse. Takeru turned his eyes from the Azure, and in the boy's direction. "Just how the hell did you get in here!"

Takeru, turned, regarding the boy with cold eyes, as he did everyone. "Your door was open, so I thought I'd come in." he drolled, almost sarcastically. He shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans, remaining expressionless.

The boy seemed a little embarrassed by that. "Oh, ha ha, very funny." He said through gritted teeth. A thought dawned on him, and he fell into a defensive stance, one hand reaching behind his back. "Are you with OZ?" he asked coldly.

Takeru knew that he was reaching for a gun, but he remained passive, holding back his response on purpose. He wanted to see what the boy would do.

"And what if I said yes?" he said, in a flat tone of vice.

"Then you die." The boy said simply, drawing the gun, aiming in Takeru's general direction, and pulling the trigger. Faster than should have been possible, Takeru sidestepped out of the bullet's path. The boy seemed surprised, but recovered quickly, re-aiming his gun with more accuracy, his expression dark. He held his trigger finger, this time, as if expecting Takeru to say something.

Takeru lowered his eyes, closing them with that same unfeeling look. "Then, I guess it's a good thing that I'm not."

The boy raised his eyebrow in curiosity. "Oh? Suddenly abandoning your ways, just to get out of this experience alive?"

"Hardly." Takeru looked the boy in the eyes, dark chocolate brown meeting with light blue. "My name is Takeru Yuy. I pilot the Neo Wing Gundam ZERO."

The boy seemed confused, then his eyes narrowed. "So, I suppose that makes you special, or somethin'? Well, I'm not impressed-"

"You should be, Maxwell."

Both Takeru and Maxwell turned in surprise, at the sound of a soft, but commanding feminine voice. The main entrance for people was once again open, a tall but slender young woman standing in the doorway, leaning on the side, her arms folded across her chest, and one foot crossed over the other. She appeared to be Japanese, in excellent shape, with the build of a slender, but talented martial artist. She was exceptionally good looking, her intense eyes of ice blue drawing Takeru's attention, even from all the way across the room. Pushing herself off the door, she kicked it closed, and began walking towards the two of them.

"The Neo Wing ZERO is another of the three Gundams that were sent to earth." She continued, not taking her smile off of them, her eyes narrowed in confidence. "That makes him a Gundam pilot. However, I do believe there was a case of mistaken identity, here."

She approached Takeru, stopping directly before him. She was wearing the uniform of an OZ Mobile Suit engineer. She offered her hand to Takeru.

"Inori Kazama. I'm the one that pilot's the Azure. Not him."

Takeru almost let his surprise show, but he only nodded, not taking her offered handshake. "I was wondering why he seemed so confused about that."

She shrugged helplessly, then turned to Maxwell with a scowl. "You've been eating Chinese without me, haven't you!"

Maxwell tucked his gun back into the back of his pants. "Yeah, well I was hungry! What did you expect me to do, when you only show up so often!"

Inori stuck her tongue out at Maxwell playfully, then turned back to Takeru. "I take it that you want to keep the Neo holed up here, right?"

Takeru raised an eyebrow. "What makes you say that?"

"It's pretty obvious, if you went through all that trouble, with David." She said, her smile and eyes more light-hearted than before "Well, whenever you need to hide it, go ahead and bring it in. Just make sure you knock, first, next time."

Inori headed off in the direction of the barracks, tossing off the ball cap on her head, and freeing her long hair from its ponytail. Takeru watched her close the door of the second barracks behind her.

_This_, he thought, _is going to be interesting…_

Inori had spent the whole of that night sending information to mission control, and then making detail repairs to the Azure, She had been careful with the pressure seal, and cleaned out all the joints. She had done this to her Taurus, regularly, back on the lunar base. The cold of outer space, and the dust particles that just floated around, would eventually get into the joints, and slow down performance. Since there was that much more dust on earth, and temperature variations to worry about, she had to clean the joints all that much more. Much to her relief, everything seemed all right, the pressure seal holding up just fine.

Unfortunately, she had worked into the late hours of the night, returning to the base half-asleep. She just barely kept enough wits about her to make certain she wasn't spotted, on her way back to her quarters. Once inside the confines of her room, she stripped down to her nightly clothing, throwing an over-sized T-shirt over it all, and fell down on the bed with a groan.

"That's the last time I work on an MS till two in the morning." She groaned through her pillow, pulling what she could of the covers around her, then hugging her pillow like it were a priceless treasure, ready to descend into oblivion.

Before she fell asleep, the face of the other Gundam pilot, Takeru, she thought his name was, popped into her mind. She opened her eyes, a thought running through her mind.

_At least I know why he looked familiar, now_, she thought to herself. Then, with a blissful sigh, let herself pass out, until her alarm would start ringing, at five thirty.

The Neo remained hidden in the clouds, all stealth sensors active, to mask it from the carrier that would soon be approaching. Takeru had converted the Neo into fighter mode, for this mission. He had studied the route by which the carrier would be arriving, and pinpointed the area where it would meet its Mobile Suit escorts. He had decided to destroy it before it ever reached those escorts.

Maxwell had the doors to the warehouse open, back at the docks, waiting for his arrival. He would land the Neo as a fighter, then transform it into a Mobile Suit, once inside the storage facility. For now, he had only to wait for the carrier to arrive.

It had been two days since he had first met Inori and David Maxwell, who happened to be the descendant of Duo Maxwell. David seemed to brag about this, a lot, and enjoyed talking. He had often called Takeru "No fun", because he wouldn't talk back. Of Inori, he had seen very little, beyond the time he met her, and just last night, when she was once again working on her Gundam. She was more talkative with Maxwell, and seemed to be an excellent Mobile Suit engineer, as he had judged by how thoroughly she had cleaned the Azure's joints of any dust particles, and yet, she had done it so quickly, as well. From what he gathered, Inori was in the middle of an espionage mission, infiltrating some military base, not too far from here.

The truth was, Takeru hadn't been expecting someone like Inori to be the Azure's pilot. Dr. Crow had always acted as if he knew the Azure's pilot very well, and his curiosity had peaked, when he met the girl. He decided to ask her about that, when he got the chance. He didn't know why, but he had the strangest urge to find out what she was like, since he hadn't seen enough of her to really get to know her, beyond her name. It was probably a result of his last encounter, with Rem. He needed to know whether or not she was someone he could at least trust to an extent, and count as an actual ally, in battle.

Takeru wasn't given any time to ponder this further, as his radar began making a sound of alert. The carrier appeared in his scanners, and he almost sighed aloud. Gripping the controls in his hands, he held his breath, waiting until the best moment, then urged the Neo out of the clouds.

The fighter screamed across the sky, set on what appeared to be a collision course with the carrier. He switched on his frequency jammer, not wanting the vessel to be able to radio for assistance. Once he had achieved the speed he wanted, he initiated the transformation from a fighter, to a Mobile Suit, taking a beam saber out of its socket.

"What the hell is that!" he could hear the voices of the officers flying the carrier, confused and off-balance. They didn't know he was an enemy.

"Maybe it's one of our escorts?"

Takeru narrowed his eyes, and activated the beam saber.

"Like hell, it's one of our escorts! That thing just pulled a beam saber!"

"What kind of Mobile Suit is this? I've never seen anything like it, except in the history… books… Oh my God. Oh my GOD! Change course! Change course, _now_! It's a _Gundam!_"

"_What!_"

The carrier began attempting to change its course, but Takeru's relative speed was beyond theirs, thanks to the propulsion he had received in fighter mode. Altering his own course, just slightly, he suddenly threw all thrusters in reverse, bringing the Neo to a dead stop above the shuttle, and chopping downwards over its hull. The carrier split down the center, exploding at the Neo's feet. Not wanting to be caught in the blast, Takeru quickly converted the Neo Wing ZERO back into a fighter, and screamed off across the night sky. He felt himself break into a dark smile, his shoulders shaking in cynical laughter. Takeru threw his head back, letting out his mirth at the carrier's destruction. He eventually regained control of himself.

"Mission, accomplished." He muttered softly, turning the Neo's course for the warehouse on the dockside.

Inori heaved a sigh of relief, when she saw that Melzas was leading them back down the corridor, to the blast doors. She kept it inaudible, however, masking it as a slight yawn, from waking up so early.

"Today, I'll be showing you what you requested to see, last time, Mr. Bjornson." Melzas went on, in his arrogant tone of voice. "I'm going to have to ask you to stay behind, again, Miss Kanzaki."

"I understand." She said softly, not really caring what he said. They were led into the elevator, again, and Inori bumped into Bjornson. It hadn't been on accident, however. For a brief moment, her hand met with his. Her eyes flashed a pale ice blue light, as she initiated the telepathic link. She wasn't about to miss this.

The elevator's descent was about as slow as before, and was no less boring. Inori managed to stay focused on her mission, but she couldn't help it when she sighed softly, once outside the elevator. She unquestioningly sat in the nearest chair, as Bjornson and Melzas proceeded to the same sliding wall. Once they were beyond that, she closed her eyes, searching along the link for Bjornson's mind, and was very soon peering out through his eyes.

Melzas led Inori's puppet along quietly, through the Mobile Suit hangar, and to another door, at the far end. They went through a corridor, like so many other times. Ahead, there was a large blast door, unsurprisingly guarded by two men. Their faces were as blank as those of the Virgo S pilots, they almost looked comatose. Melzas approached, and nodded to yet another camera, up on the wall. The blast doors slid aside with a hiss, allowing the two men to pass through.

As she saw what was beyond those doors, Inori did the mental of falling out of her chair. Scientists, technology that appeared to be decades ahead of its time. Things that had been allowed, but only at one military installation, throughout the entire Earth Sphere Unified Nation. It was almost like she had come home.

The technology was the exact same as what was used at the lunar base.

Along the sides of each wall, she saw an endless row of soldiers, all seated, and hooked up to some sort of machine that monitored their brainwaves. Many of these soldiers appeared to be flat lined, their eyes staring out blankly. Others appeared to be asleep. The machines they were hooked up to were very similar to the device used to monitor a psionic, when they were using their telepathy. Such machines were never intended to monitor regular people, not for anything.

"What's happening to them?" she heard Bjornson ask Melzas.

"Come, I'll show you." Melzas guided Bjornson next to one of blank-faced soldiers, gesturing for him to stand on the other side. "This machine is what we use to remove the memories from our pilots. We put them into an induced coma, then hook them up. Their brainwaves are monitored, there." Melzas pointed out the screen on one side. His hand floated over to something that looked like a computer keyboard and screen, even with a disk slot. "This is where all memories are edited. The complexity of it is interesting, because we literally save their brainwaves to disk, then erase it entirely. Let's see, I think this one's finished."

Melzas ejected the disk from its slot, handing it to Bjornson. "We keep all the soldiers' memories in a library, just down the way."

"What about the machine, itself?" Inori urged Bjornson into saying. "How does it… save and erase the memories, like you said?"

"Well." Melzas continued, "This technology is reminiscent of the lunar base's psionic monitor. The original machine was modified, and linked up to a human. By modification, I mean the disk drive you see. A psionic monitor actually opens up the mind, like it were a program, so you can watch what's going on. By connecting it to an average human, we can save their memories onto disc, just like they _were_ a program, and then erase everything, for our purposes."

Inori drew herself out of Bjornson's mind, severing the link. She had seen enough, and could now report back to Dr. Crow. She found herself thoroughly disgusted. They were toying with peoples' minds, as if they were a computer game. She would be certain to destroy all of the underground complex, now that she had gotten all the information she needed.

Even the OZ led by Treize Khushrenada hadn't allowed such inhumane acts. She had a feeling that, if Treize saw what was going on in the name of his faction, he'd be taking the same course she was taking, now.

"So, around what time do you expect to be back?" Maxwell pressed Inori, wanting to know just when to open the doors.

"Before dawn, tomorrow." She said simply. "I won't be leaving, until late tonight, so you might as well just calm down, David."

"Yeah, well, I wanna know what time I'm gonna have to set my alarm clock, so I can at least be clothed, when I let you in or out, okay?"

"Why, do you sleep in the nude?" Inori teased him, finishing up with the Azure's diagnostics check, and hopping out of the cockpit, onto the catwalk. "Well, by now, Bjornson probably has them in a torrent, looking for me. That note I left in the room should be very convincing, as well."

"What did it say?" Maxwell asked in curiosity.

"It said 'For purposes of our own, we have taken Yuzuriha Kanzaki. Do not expect to see her alive, again.' Sound convincing enough?"

Maxwell looked at her in bemusement. "You're evil, y'know that?"

Inori tossed him a smile and a wink, as she closed the cockpit behind her. "I'm not evil, I'm just following orders."

Inori shooed Maxwell away, so she could gather up her equipment, putting it all back into her case. She cracked a smile to herself as she closed it, she had always loved being able to repair her own Mobile suit, she was better at MS engineering than many of the best mechanics. Her stomach growled, making her sigh.

"All right, since I know I can't be seen outside, why don't you run along, and get all of us some lunch, eh?" she said to Maxwell.

"What, me?" David looked surprised, "Even for the other guy, too?"

"Well, don't you think he'd like to eat, too? And yes, you!"

"Aww, all right!" he grumbled, "But I'd better be getting reimbursed!"

Inori just smiled, and waved him along. He knew that she was teasing, they always teased each other, which was why they got along so well. Inori watched David leave, smiling in helpless bemusement to herself. She yawned, and stretched, her gaze falling over to the Neo Wing ZERO, at the Azure's left. A slightly mischievous smile found its way onto her lips. Inori decided that it was time to get to know the Neo's pilot better.

Takeru was inside the Neo's cockpit, running a simulation. He wanted to see how the Neo might handle in a really large battle. His results were far better than anyone would have ever thought possible, but he still wasn't satisfied. According to the readouts, while he ended up destroying all targets, he received far more damage than he wanted to. He kept pushing himself, getting better, each time, but he still felt that is wasn't enough. He needed for his skills to be on par with his great-grandfather's, or better.

His eyes skimmed over the last readout, his suit had received thirty-two percent damage, still more than what he wanted. Still, he felt tired, and he knew he wouldn't be getting any missions, any time soon. With a slight sigh, he climbed out of the cockpit.

He thought he felt someone's presence, and turned his eyes upward. Standing alongside the catwalk, her arms folded over the rail, was Inori. She was looking down at his Gundam's right leg, a pondering look on her face. Takeru knew that his Gundam's right leg had been acting up, lately, after he had made that fast transformation, when he destroyed the MS carrier. He wondered if she had noticed, as well.

"What do you want?" he asked, somewhat coldly.

Inori looked up at him in slight surprise, and shrugged helplessly. "How long has the Neo's right leg been like that?"

Takeru raised an eyebrow. So, she had noticed, she was a better MS technician than he thought. "Since my last mission was completed."

"Hmm…" Inori caught her chin in her hand, looking down at the leg. "You either caught some debris, or the explosion threw some shrapnel that scraped the inner part of the joint."

Takeru looked down at the leg, slightly impressed. She could tell that, just by looking at it? She was much better than he had originally given her credit for.

"If you want, I can have the knee fixed, before I leave, tonight." She offered.

"No thanks." He said flatly. "I just don't want anybody touching my Mobile Suit."

Inori shrugged. "Suit yourself." She said. "David's going out to get us all some lunch. I just hope he brings back something I can eat, this time."

Takeru walked past Inori, only half-listening to what she was saying. He paused for a moment, looking at the Azure's leg, then glancing back at the damaged right leg of his own Gundam.

"Don't even think about." He heard Inori speak in warning. He turned to regard her. "I know what it is you're thinking, and I don't even need to use telepathy. Forget it, you're not using the Azure for parts."

Inori walked up, an annoyed scowl on her face. She came within an inch of his face, and since she wasn't that much shorter than his height of five feet and eleven inches, she was nearly eye-level with him. Her ice blue eyes flashed with feigned anger, he noticed that distinctly- it was feigned.

"The Azure's pressure seal is an intricate piece of work. I won't have you go and screw it up, just because you need a part. If you need it fixed that badly, you should've taken me up on my offer. I didn't work on these back on the lunar base, for nothin', y'know!"

Takeru let a little bit of surprise sneak its way into his features. "You were one of the engineers that worked on the Gundams?" he asked, as she walked around him.

Inori turned, her face still slightly annoyed, but serious. She leaned against the rail, crossing one foot over the other, and folding her arms over her chest. "Of course I was. I needed to learn how to repair the Azure. Its pressure seal is a lot more delicate than you'd think."

Takeru leaned against the rail as well, looking back over at the Azure. "But, that wasn't why you were chosen to be a Gundam pilot, though." He stated more than asked.

Inori shook her head. "No, I was selected from the Elite Defense unit, by Dr. Crow. He said he wanted me to pilot the Azure, because of my talents combined with my psionics."

Takeru looked over at her in curiosity. "You're a psionic."

"Mm-hmm." She nodded, with a slight smile. "Ninth-generation, the only one in existence."

"So, those weren't just rumors, about there being a ninth-generation."

"Yeah, well, they can't record the generation, just yet. So, there's still only eight, up to date."

"Why can't they record it?"

"Because, I'm only a single person, and no other gen.-nine psionics have been born, yet. Until another is born, I'll just be considered a psionic anomaly."

Takeru looked below, focused more on his own thoughts. So, Inori was chosen because she was a psionic. She had also said that she was part of the Elite Defense unit, those had been the best pilots on the lunar base. A small group of maybe fifteen or twenty Mobile Suit pilots, whose skills surpassed the abilities of everyone else. From what Crow had told him, the Elites were a very prestigious group, but decent people. It required a lot of time to get into the Elite. Takeru remembered Crow saying something about there only being one pilot who was assigned to the Elites on her first day, That had stuck out, the "her" part. That suddenly made Takeru think of Inori. So, she was the one who had joined the Elites, at the age of ten.

"Don't think too hard." He heard her say, and looked up in her direction.

"If you think like that all the time, you'll end up looking like Crow." She flashed him a teasing smile.

Takeru merely made a sound of acknowledgment, that said he wasn't amused, and proceeded on down the catwalk. Inori's expression deflated into something saying she wasn't amused, as well.

"I'm crushed." She said in a flat tone, "You don't seem to appreciate my humor."

"Why should I?" he returned, just as emotionless as ever. "I just don't see the point in cracking jokes, when there's no point to it."

Inori raised an eyebrow, getting annoyed by his attitude. "Well, hoity-toity to you, too, mister High and Mighty. So, I guess that crying is below your station, as well? Or any other human emotion that exists?"

"Tears are purely ceremonial." He called back, without turning around. "Emotions just get in the way of duty. I can't afford to have any distractions, when I'm on a mission."

Inori "hmphed", standing straight on the catwalk, watching Takeru walk away, his hands shoved into his pockets.

"I can understand that," she said back, just loudly enough for him to hear. "But you're not on any missions, right now. So, what's there to stop you from appreciating a friendly smile? What is there to stop you from trusting me?"

Takeru stopped, her somewhat sad tone, making him turn around and regard her.

"No." she said softly, turning away from him, but looking back over her shoulder. "I guess that it would be too much to ask of you, to trust someone.

"It would be too much of a distraction from your mission, right?"

The bitter sarcasm in her last sentence bit into him. He looked down, through the barred floor of the catwalk, to the cement ground below, pondering the implications of their conversation. With a soft sigh, he continued on his way, down the catwalk.

It was close to one o'clock at night. Inori had stayed up, to make some finishing checks on the Azure. She had no idea where Takeru had gone off to, he had left, shortly after they had spoken. It didn't matter, Inori didn't have time to worry about it, she had to get going.

She slipped out of her barracks room, wearing a pair of jeans, and her red, zip-up T-shirt. She glanced over to the other barracks room, where both Takeru and Maxwell stayed. An idea came into her head, and since Takeru wasn't around, there was no reason she couldn't have a little fun. Walking briskly over to the door, a smile planted on her face, she banged hard on the door, three times, then shouted.

"_Hey! Maxwell! I need you to open the door, now!_"

From inside, she heard a "_Whooaaaaa!_", followed by a loud thud, and a groan. She bit her lip to hold back her laughter, she knew that David always slept on one of the top bunks. Still, her fun wasn't over, so she couldn't loose control, just yet.

She heard David scramble to his feet, looking for the light switch. She bit her lip even harder when she heard him stub his toe, but the killing blow came when he finally got the light on, and swung open the door.

"What? What is it!" Maxwell looked like the entire world might be collapsing. He then saw Inori's wickedly mischievous grin, and reddened like a cooked lobster.

"Why, David, I thought you said you slept naked!" she teased, her double-edged smile widening as she looked the fit young man over. "Nice boxers." She commented on

the bright red underwear that served as his nightly apparel.

"Wha- Inori!" David leapt backwards, dashing behind the door. She heard him trip over something, and could no longer contain herself. Falling over backwards with laughter, and rolling on the ground. She clutched at her sides, she was crying, she was laughing so hard. Maxwell came back out, dressed in his jodhpurs and a muscle shirt.

"This isn't a laughing matter!" he yelled at her, making her laugh all the harder. After about fifteen minutes of wonderfully painful laughter, Inori managed to gain control of herself. David had already opened up the doors for the Azure to get out. Inori clambered into the cockpit, still shaking quietly in amusement, and strapped herself in. The Azure's systems came to life, the cockpit closing with a hiss. The pale light of the screens bathed her still laughing form, but she had enough wits about her to back away from the dock.

Once she was actually piloting her Gundam, Inori stopped laughing, the seriousness of her mission overriding her amusement. Once out of the warehouse, she crouched the Azure, preparing the four wing-like thrusters. Blue fires burned within them, the turbines roaring. With a mighty leap, the Azure lived up to its reputation, achieving mach four within less than a second, and even faster as she went across the sky.

Maxwell watched her take off in amazement. The Gundams that had been built weren't just insanely powerful, they were true works of art. He made a mental note to have Inori teach him how to repair them, when she came back.

"Mr. Bjornson, I understand how you feel. I promise you, we're doing everything we can to find your assistant, right now!-"

"Well, it's not enough!" Bjornson shook his fist in Melzas' face, the note left in his assistant's room clutched in his hand. "Yuzuriha could be dead, by now! What the hell am I going to say to her family! That an incompetent lieutenant _lost_ her! I trusted you with our safety!"

"Mr. Bjornson! Please, get a hold of yourself!" Melzas shouted back at the hysterical man. He was about ready to slap Bjornson, to get him back to his senses, but something told him, that would only provoke Bjornson further.

The alarms sounded on the premises, red lights flashing in the hallway. A voice over the intercom was saying something about a Mobile Suit-sized object approaching, at high speeds. Melzas growled angrily, as if he didn't have enough problems! Picking up the phone, he dialed up the command tower.

"What the hell is going on up there!" he shouted into the phone, at the officer that picked it up.

"Sir, a Mobile Suit is approaching us at impossible speeds! We think it may be a Gundam!"

"A Gundam? Preposterous! There's no way it could be a Gundam, I'm coming up, prepare the Virgo S units for launch!"

Melzas ran to the elevator, leaving Bjornson shouting in his wake. Those fools, there was no way it could be a Gundam! If anything, it was one of the advanced Taurus suits that they used, on the lunar base, which had somehow made its way to earth, and survived the battle. It was a slow ride up to the control tower, but when he got there, he started shouting for his men to bring up the image on screen. His words were cut short, however, as the building shook with an explosion. Melzas was forced to his knees, and looked up in disbelief.

"What the hell was that!" he shouted.

"Sir! The Gundam is on the premises! It's already destroyed the Mobile Suit gates! The Virgos can't get out!"

"Bring the image up on screen! Fire all gun turrets! Buy those Virgos some time!"

"Sir! The image is coming up, now!"

Melzas turned his attention to the main screen, determined to prove his men wrong about their belief. Instead, he found himself nearly falling backwards. The Mobile Suit on the screens was undeniably a Gundam, its power was too great for it to be anything else. Melzas fell back into a chair, speechless.

"Lieutenant! What do we do?" he heard an officer begging him.

"We die." He said calmly.

The soldier beside Melzas growled in disbelief. How could the Lieutenant give up, so easily!

"Never mind!" he shouted in a commanding voice. "Get those Virgos freed, now!"

"Sir, we've managed to free up one of the Mobile Suit gates! The Virgo S units are proceeding towards the enemy, now!"

The soldier smiled in victory. "All right, then! Let's blow this thing back to hell!"

They watched the screen as Virgo S units swarmed around the Gundam, their beam cannons aimed and ready to fire. The slender Gundam turned about, almost as if to regard its enemies, then stood straight. The plasma saber that came from its right arm died away, and it switched the enhanced beam rifle over to right hand.

"Sir, the Virgos have encircled the Gundam, and are standing by for orders!"

"Order them to destroy it! Now!" The Virgos raised their beam cannons, the energy gathering in the barrels of the weapons.

Within the cockpit of the Azure, Inori just gave a cocky, half-smile.

The eyes of the Azure glowed a brilliant white, and the Gundam clasped its free hand in a fist. Hovering in the air, the feet posed like a skilled dancer, the Azure threw its arms in front of its face defensively, still clutching the beam rifle in the right hand, just as the Virgos fired. A sphere of blue energy seemed to appear around the Gundam, reflecting the blasts back at the surrounding Virgos, and destroying them, they didn't have their shields up while they were firing.

Within the cockpit of the Azure, Inori smiled confidently. "Well, that was stupid." She remarked sarcastically, then leaned forward in the pilot's seat. "I have to make certain that I thank dad properly, when this is all over. Without him, the psi-link wouldn't have worked so well!"

She sent the Azure high into the sky, far above the base itself. She aimed down with the beam rifle, knowing well that its power, equal with that of a single buster rifle, would be more than enough to destroy the entire underground portion of the base. Her cocky smile never fading from her face, she fired.

The blast tore through the main building of the base, deep into the earth, destroying all of the Virgo S units still left inside, and all the technology they used to erase the memories from those pitiful soldiers. When the light faded, only a smoking crater was left in its wake.

"Man!" She remarked dryly, "What a dull place! And here I heard that it was one of the most happening places in China. Tsk, tsk!" With her mission complete, Inori saw no reason to hang around. Leaving a blue streak of light in its speeding wake, the Azure took off across the night sky, back to the warehouse on the docks.

_-The Arabian Desert_

"Master Kahna!"

He heard Razul's voice screaming his name over the comm, but there was nothing he could, at the moment, he was under too much heavy fire.

"C'mon, Sandrock!" he begged his Gundam, grunting as another blow forced his Mobile Suit to its knees. "Please! I can't let them down, now!"

Almost as if it understood his feelings, the sturdy Sandrock II got back up to its feet, its eyes burning. The Gundam reached behind its back, taking up the twin sickles on its back. The blades gleamed a deadly crimson in the desert sun, and Kahna rocketed forward with a primal cry of battle. Both blades cut across their respective sides, severing two Virgo S units through their cockpits. It hurled one sickle to the left, through one suit, and into another, making both explode. With the remaining sickle, Kahna picked up a Virgo S by its head, and drove the gargantuan blade through the cockpit, knowing how the resilient Mobile Suits would continue fighting, as long as the suit itself was somewhat operable.

"I… I'm sorry." He said to the mindless pilot inside, knowing that the man wouldn't have been able to respond, anyway.

"Master Kahna! Are you all right?" he heard Razul's voice once more, as he retrieved his other sickle.

"Yeah… I'm okay." He said bitterly. It was his fault for dragging the Maganac Corps into this hopeless battle. It had been such an obvious trap! Still, the possibility of his father's survival had been too much for him to not take a chance on. He had led the entire Maganac Corps into something that there was no escape from, not now.

A blast forced the Sandrock II to the ground, Kahna felt himself falling, and let out a wail of surprise.

"Ungh! Damn!" he spat, feeling the warmth of his own blood trickle down the side of his face. He could only be grateful that his goggles kept the red liquid out of his eyes.

"Master Kahna!"

"Razul… I'm sorry… All of you. I should've listened to you…" he felt the tears welling up, he had led them all to their deaths.

"No, young Master!"

"Don't you dare blame yourself!"

The voices of his soldiers came over the comm. The Sandrock picked itself up, allowing Kahna to look at their faces. They nearly took up all of his screens, all of his men. They looked just as bad as he did, sweating, many bleeding from their lips, or somewhere else. The grim looks of determination on their faces surprised him.

"Master Kahna." Razul said calmly. "We followed you into this battle, even though we knew it was a trap. I think, that, somewhere in all our hearts, we too prayed that Senator Winner survived. But, we did not follow you because of him, young Master. We believe in you, Master Kahna! And we will not abandon you, we will follow you wherever you go! Even if it be to the bowels of hell!"

All the soldiers nodded grimly, some even breaking a smile of determination. Kahna had pull of his goggles, and wipe away the tears.

"Thank you, all of you…" his voice choked. With renewed determination, Kahna urged the Sandrock II to its feet. Wiping away his remaining tears with his now bloody sleeve, Kahna snapped his goggles back on. "All right, then!" He said, "I'll draw their fire, then, we'll hit them with everything we've got left! Let's do it, Maganac Corps!"

He heard unified shouts of his men, and managed a small smile. The Sandrock II blazed forward, Kahna shouting a cry of battle, in his determination. He was almost certain, this would be his last charge…

A brilliant flash engulfed the enemy Virgos, leaving only a crater in its wake. The blast forced the Sandrock to fly backwards, into the ranks of his own men. Razul picked him up with his own Maganac, helping the Sandrock II to its feet.

"What was that?" Kahna managed, despite his shock.

"Master Kahna, above!" Razul's words sent the Sandrock's eyes skyward, at the demon that hovered in the sky. Its wings were spread rampant, as it slowly descended among the ranks of Maganac Corps soldiers, landing before the still off-balance Kahna.

"It's… a Gundam…" Kahna couldn't believe it, but one of the Gundams was here, before his very eyes, and had completely annihilated his enemies, with just one blast with its powerful beam cannon.

"Ah, thank you!" Kahna jumped to attention, a smile of relief spreading over his face as the Gundam's pilot appeared on his screen. "Thank you, so much!"

He was a young man, tall, and lean, his shoulder-length, raven-colored hair falling over his right eye. Slowly, he opened his eyes, and Kahna found himself chilled by those black orbs.

"Who are you?…" he asked softly, his smile fading.

"…Your death." He said simply. The Gundam's left arm beam cannon snapped to attention, aimed directly at the cockpit of the Sandrock II. An Oliphant Mobile Suit stepped in the way, and Kahna saw a wild look fill the pilot's eyes, before he cut off the communication.

The Gundam screamed forward, its right arm extended like a claw. Grabbing the Oliphant by the head, it lifted the heavy Mobile Suit clear off the earth, and high above itself.

"No! Stop!" Kahna begged, but the pilot didn't respond.

The left arm beam cannon shot upwards, into the chest area of the Oliphant, and fired. The brilliant beam tore through the cockpit, vaporizing the man inside of it.

"_Noooooo!_" Kahna heard himself screaming, tears stinging his eyes, but the beam had already faded, the pilot of the Oliphant dead. The Gundam dropped the Oliphant heavily to the earth, then redirected its beam cannon at Kahna.

"How could you…" he wept softly, "How could you!" The young man's face appeared on his screen, yet again, a ruthless smile playing on his thin lips.

"Next time," he said softly, "It will be your turn to die…"

The Gundam sprang into the sky, thrusters burning angrily, and sped off across the desert.

Kahna was left with only his tears of disbelief and betrayal, and the destroyed frame of an Oliphant Mobile Suit…

_-Southeast China…_

"Damnit, Inori!" Takeru threw open the door to the barracks room that Inori used, hardly caring as it slammed against the wall. Inori was in bed, only half-awake, until she saw Takeru standing in her doorway, when she angrily threw off the covers, She was still wearing her sleeping apparel, a pair of underwear, and a slightly over-sized T-shirt that didn't quite make it to her waist. Takeru didn't care, though.

"I thought I told you, I didn't want anybody touching the Neo!" he growled.

"So, he _does_ have emotions." She drolled sarcastically, then sprang out of the bed. "Well, excuse the hell out of me, for fixing the Neo's leg, while you were away! Here, do you want me to use the Azure, and damage it again, just so _you_ can fix it? You're so damn touchy!"

"I told you! I didn't want anyone touching my Mobile Suit!"

"Why, were you afraid it would get cooties? It's not as if I _don't know_ how to fix it properly! Hell, I can probably do it better than you, because I worked on it for two years!"

"Just don't do it again, Inori!"

"And what're _you_ gonna do, if _I_ do? Look at me funny, with one of your angry expressions?"

There came a long silence between the two of them. Takeru glared dangerously at Inori, but she didn't flinch, her intense eyes of ice blue staring back, just as fiercely. Maxwell stood on the side, kind of amused by the whole thing. Inori didn't seem embarrassed in the slightest by the fact that she was in her underwear, unlike he had been. That little fact made the entire thing so amusing, David couldn't help but crack a smile.

"Aww, don't you two just make the cutest couple!" he laughed.

"_Shuttup!_" both Inori and Takeru snapped at him, simultaneously.

"This isn't over!" Takeru growled, spinning away and storming down through the warehouse.

"You're damn right, it's not! And you're _fucking welcome!_" Inori shouted after him, spinning about, and slamming her door closed.

"Yeah, well _thank you!_"

Maxwell looked back and forth from Takeru to Inori's door. Finally, he looked over at the two Gundams, smiling in amusement.

"Gosh," he said, quoting a line from an old movie he used to like watching. "It's kinda like, Moonlighting, isn't it?" Shaking his head, and chuckling to himself, David walked down to the other end of the warehouse.

For the next two weeks, Inori and Takeru wouldn't even so much as look at each other sideways. They seemed to be purposely avoiding each other, which David knew, there wasn't any "seemed to be" about the entire thing. He still found it terribly amusing, and often had to catch himself, before bursting into chuckles. Every time he did laugh, Inori would glare at him in a manner that made him nervous.

When he had asked her to show him how to repair the Gundams, she agreed rather hastily, probably so she wouldn't have to deal with Takeru. Still, by the end of the second week, something David never would've thought possible happened.

Takeru found a problem, in the Neo's diagnostics scan. Somehow, a piece of shrapnel, from the carrier he destroyed, had worked its way up from the Neo's damaged leg, and close to the reactor. Inori heard him cussing about it, and left David alone to go explore it.

"What's the matter?" she asked Takeru, genuinely.

"Nothing for you to worry about." He growled, angrier at the problem, than at her.

"Look, will you stop being so damn stubborn!" she said, pulling the diagnostics readout from his hands before he could protest further. She scanned it over with her eyes, her face contorting in surprise.

"Yeouch." She remarked, Takeru not feeling amused. Inori handed the diagnostics readout back to him. "All right, there's no way you'll be able to handle an exposed reactor alone. Don't worry, though. I'm sure we'll get it fixed."

"Don't patronize me." He said dryly. "However, you're right in the fact that I can't do this alone." He conceded, almost reluctantly.

"All right, then." Inori said, "It's a truce for now. I'll go and get my equipment. In the meantime, do us both a favor, and back the Neo away some. I'll get it prepped for reactor exposure, when I get back."

Inori whirled about, her long hair trailing behind her. Takeru watched her for a moment, then proceeded to back the Neo one or two steps away from the dock. It was one hell of a jump back, but Takeru managed it. By then, Inori had brought over a case of MS engineering tools. It was quite an impressive assortment, actually, Inori seemed to know what she was doing. On the floor of the warehouse, Inori used the cable to get up to the Neo's cockpit, her tool case in tow. Once up in the cockpit, she hooked up a small laptop computer, bringing up a program she had designed for engineering purposes.

She brought up the Neo's schematics, and downloaded the information from the diagnostics readout. Typing in a few commands, she had the Gundam ready for reactor exposure. Inori was just grateful that Mobile Suits used the clean, safe, Minovsky reactor for power, and not the more dangerous nuclear reactors that were used so many hundreds of years ago. Otherwise, they would all be getting a healthy dose of radiation, when she did this.

"Okay!" she shouted down at them, "When I give the word, I'm going to expose the reactor. Make sure you have sunglasses on!" she threw that last part in more for fun, but she wanted to be as careful as she could. She would be the one working closest to the reactor, she had the most experience with this sort of thing. Back on the lunar base, she had done a core check, at least twice a year, on her Taurus. She would end up needing sunglasses, because of how bright it was, so close to the reactor.

"Hey, Maxwell! Get me my motorcycle helmet!" she shouted down at the two.

"Okay, but, why do you need that?" he shouted back.

"She's going to be working closest to the reactor," Takeru explained, pulling on the helmet from the flight suit he had worn during atmospheric reentry. "And I'll be right up there, with her. The light from the reactor is so brilliant, she has to have some kind of shaded eyewear, before working on it. Now, hurry up and get it. I'll take it up to her."

David ran over to Inori's motorcycle, pulling the helmet off of the seat, and dashing back over. He handed the helmet to Takeru, who threw in a pair of gloves. Takeru began ascending the rope, one-handedly. Once he reached the cockpit, he found Inori already clinging to one side, her feet still on the platform itself. She took her helmet, pulling out the gloves Takeru had thrown in, and dropped the helmet over her head. She pulled on the gloves quickly, looking at him, and making sure he had on a helmet and gloves as well.

"All right! Get ready!" she shouted through her helmet, the sound muffled. She and Takeru stepped off the platform, clinging to the sides where she instructed, Inori knew where it was safe to hold onto.

"Well, Maxwell, you wanted to know how we do core checks, consider this your first lesson!" she shouted, activating the switch to expose the core. Almost as if the Gundam were transforming, the cockpit seemed to push itself out of the Mobile Suit, and fall down, as if on a hinge. The chest of the suit rose considerably, to assist in the cockpit's removal, and a brilliant light of pale green filtered from deeper inside, the Mobile Suit's core.

"Let's do it!" she said, both she and Takeru entering the exposed core. She recalled what she had memorized from the diagnostics scan, and pinpointed the location of the shrapnel. Lowering herself carefully, Inori placed her feet in the safe places, as she had been taught. She was closer to the reactor than she would've liked to be, but there was no avoiding it. Takeru was beside her, not as close to the reactor, his feet placed in similar "safe" places.

Inori ran her hand around the thick wires, reaching her hand down in some places, until she came across the shrapnel. She gestured to Takeru that she had found it, and he began helping her move wires, as carefully as they could manage. Each wire was at least as thick as Inori's wrist, but they were stiff, and difficult to move. After a few moments, they seemed to get enough wires carefully moved to try and free the shrapnel. Inori and Takeru both reached in, their hands working for the same purpose, but moving independently, as well. Both of them had to pause, at certain moments, to move another wire, to avoid cutting any of them with the exceptionally large piece of shrapnel. Inori just hoped that none of the wires below had been cut by it.

Working in silence, they managed to get the shrapnel to a point where it seemed that they could pull it out. However, it just wouldn't move further, almost as if it were cemented in.

"Damn! I was afraid this would happen!" Inori spat. "All right, now, a piece of the shrapnel below has been wedged in between some of the wires. The good part is, we don't have to worry about there being any cut wires. The bad part is, we have to yank it free fast, and with all the strength we've got, and hope to high heaven it doesn't catch on anything on the way out."

"I can free it." She heard Takeru say, his voice somewhat muffled by his helmet.

"You sure?" she asked him, not wanting to take any chances. Takeru only nodded, and gripped the piece of shrapnel in both hands

Inori sighed, almost nervous. "Okay, on my mark, then."

They both tensed, and their eyes met, through the shading of their helmets. In that moment, the spark of trust caught flame, but while Inori knew and accepted it without question, Takeru quickly looked away, not knowing what to make of it.

"Three… two… one… mark!"

Using all of his superhuman strength, Takeru freed the shrapnel from its prison of wires. He over did it, a little, though, and almost fell backwards, flailing one arm in the hopes of catching himself. Instead, something caught him, as Inori quickly reached out, and took his flailing arm, holding him steady, and helping him back into a steady position. After Takeru had regained his balance, Inori looked down at all the wires, making certain none had been cut. Some of the rubber on one had been scraped, a little, but nothing to worry about. She sighed in relief, and looked at Takeru with a wink.

"Let's get outta this thing." She said with a smile, and they clambered out of the reactor's area. Once out of there, Inori hit the switch to let the Gundam resume its original form, the cockpit sliding back in, and the chest sealing with a steely hiss. Inori took her helmet off, breathing in the air with a sigh of relief.

Takeru climbed into the Neo's pilot seat, leaving the platform open, for Inori to stand on, and began moving the Neo back to the dock. Inori glanced at him curiously, through the corner of her eye.

_Why didn't I realize that he was superhuman?_ She thought, _I mean, if he **is** the great-grandson of Heero Yuy, it makes perfect sense that he'd be so strong. I can't believe I missed that. For God's sakes, he's the next generation in perfect soldier!_

Once the Neo Wing ZERO was back at the dock, both Inori and Takeru stepped onto the catwalk. They stared at each other for a long moment, their expressions hard, but not in the angry manner they had looked at each other with, earlier. After a moment, Inori lowered her head, closing her eyes, and assuming that same double-edged half-smile she always had. Her expression softened, and she held her hand out to Takeru with an approving smile, when she looked back up at him.

"Nice work." She said simply. Takeru paused for a moment, as if considering the implications of the handshake, but then shrugged. He took her hand in his, shaking it briefly with a nod of approval, though his expression never changed. After that, Takeru began a steady walk down the catwalk, heading for the stairs.

"And, Takeru." Inori's voice made him stop, and turn around curiously.

Inori turned, reassuming her double-edged smile. "There's just one thing I wanna ask you."

Takeru waited, not responding.

"So, tell me," she said, leaning against the rail, her eyes narrowing lewdly. "Is _everything_ in the Yuy family superhuman?"

Takeru's eyes widened in surprise as he realized the implications of her words. His eyes narrowed in anger mixed with annoyance and confusion. He felt his face flush, he couldn't believe that he was responding like this! Turning around quickly, too flustered to do anything, Takeru slightly hastened his walk away from the sound of Inori's laughter.

"I don't believe it!" he heard her saying, "I actually got him to _blush_!" her chiming laughter wasn't unpleasant to the ears, but… why was she always so frustrating! Even after they'd made their peace, she insisted on doing something to get an emotional reaction out of him. Takeru sighed, thoroughly flustered. He didn't understand that girl, not at all!

For the following week, Inori and Takeru seemed a bit more acceptant of each other. Inori had even made a habit of teasing him, just to see if she could get another reaction out of him. Of course, she never did, and she finally gave up, figuring it to be a once-in-a-lifetime kinda thing.

On some occasions, they would assist each other in making certain repairs to their Gundams. These were the points when they seemed the most relaxed around each other, when they were both caught up in worrying about what they were doing, and not anything else. Inori was getting concerned, however. Neither she, nor Takeru had received any mission assignments, as of late. She knew that people would soon be coming around, OZ soldiers, checking up on any possible leads to both of the incidents that had occurred. What with Takeru destroying that shipment of Virgo S units, and her destruction of the military base, she was surprised they hadn't come around sooner.

She began pondering whether or not they should both leave, and wait for their next missions to come in, on their own. After all, they had all been together in this warehouse, for almost over two months. That was more than long enough for them to have given both Gundams complete overhauls, even with their limited part and manpower supply.

Reclining in the pilot seat of the Azure, Inori had her hands clasped behind her head, one leg crossed over the other. She pondered all that had happened, since she had completed her last mission. While she always kept track of enemy transmissions, it seemed as if both sides were waiting for the other to make the next move. It was getting frustrating.

Inori sighed, pushing herself out of the Azure's cockpit, and onto the catwalk. She glanced down at the Neo, where Takeru was running a scan of all communications frequencies. _He must be getting restless, as well_, she thought. With a sigh of determination, she began her walk down to the Neo.

Takeru saw Inori coming, before she was even half way down the catwalk. He didn't acknowledge her presence until she was standing beside him, though.

"What is it?" he asked flatly, not even turning around to look at her.

"I've been wondering, Takeru…" she began slowly, "Neither you or I have received a mission, in quite some time. I'm wondering- if I shouldn't leave, soon."

This time, Takeru did turn around, looking at her somewhat curiously.

"It's just that- I don't think there's much more we can do, here." She continued. "Unless I get a mission within the next three days, I'll be leaving. It'll take me that long to finish up with the detail repairs to the Azure."

Takeru turned away, looking up into the open cockpit of the Neo. "I understand your point. I've made a similar decision, to go and check out some rumors I've been hearing, on the long-distance communications."

"When will you be leaving?"

Takeru looked at Inori out of the corner of his eye. "Tomorrow night. I'll be heading for Australia."

Inori dropped her chin into her palm, a look of consideration on her face. "I think I'll head northeast, towards Japan. I understand that there's a Mobile Suit factory, near Kyoto, where they're building Virgo S Mobile Suits."

Takeru nodded at her decision. "All right, then what about Maxwell?" Takeru looked down at the young man, who was working on the knee of the Neo. David had been getting quite good at working on the Gundams. Since he already had experience working on regular civilian labor Mobile Suits, he had taken to working on the highly advanced Gundams with a passion.

"Don't worry about him." She said reassuringly. "He's got a world- and space-wide franchise to manage. He thinks of this as a vacation."

"Why is he taking the risk of working with us, then?"

"I think it has something to do with family pride." Inori remarked. "When I met him, he was beating the crap out of a few drunken OZ soldiers, who had been giving him a rough time. He ­_is_ the descendant of Duo Maxwell, so I guess that he feels as if it's his duty to help stop OZ, like his great-grandfather did."

They watched David work for a little bit, he seemed completely absorbed in his work. He unconsciously stuck his tongue out of the corner of his mouth, something Inori considered to be a cute little habit of his.

"Don't worry, I'll give him the money for a trip back to wherever he wants to go, plus extra cash." She said, "It's the least I can do for him, since he insisted on handling all the shipping fees for the Azure, without letting me pay him back."

Takeru nodded, watching Maxwell at work for a bit longer. From what he had heard from his family, his great-grandfather Heero had often worked with Duo Maxwell, more than he did with the other Gundam pilots, anyway. Afterwards, Heero had felt like he owed Duo a debt of thanks, but he never went back to fulfill it. Perhaps, Takeru thought, he could fulfill that debt for his great-grandfather, but for now, it would have to wait.

On the next night, Inori and David saw Takeru off. There was a somewhat awkward moment in the good-byes, at least for Takeru, there was. David had given him a hearty handshake, followed by a lot of meaningless jabber, which Takeru wasn't certain even David understood. Inori had been different, and made it much easier for him. Briskly shaking his hand, and saying "Don't get yourself killed.", then waving him on his way.

He walked the Neo out to the outside dock, converting the Gundam into fighter mode for a faster take off. The dock wasn't long enough for a proper launch, and he was forced to use a vertical take-off, but he was fine with that. Once the Neo had screamed away from the docks, Takeru permitted himself a sigh. You couldn't be certain whether it was a sigh of relief, for finally getting away from those two, or a sigh of confusion. Either way, it didn't matter, now.

Focusing on the information he had received on those rumors, the Neo streaked across the sky, heading for Australia.

Almost two days after Takeru had left, Inori received a mission call. She had nearly fallen off the catwalk, in shock, when David yelled to her about it. She sprinted down the narrow walkway, her long hair trailing behind. When she got to the Azure, she gently shoved David aside.

"Sorry, but these messages are meant only for my eyes, not yours." She said with a grin, pulling herself into the cockpit. Her eyes skimmed over the message, then she raised an eyebrow skeptically. "This isn't a mission assignment." She said in surprise.

"No? What is it, then?" David asked, curious.

"It's on one of the emergency lines, from one of the other Gundams."

"Is it Takeru?"

"No, it's the Seraph's pilot… 'Caught in large battle with multiple Virgo S units. Seraph damaged, request assistance. Location is northwest India, near small OZ military establishment'. That's only a half-hour trip, from here."

"How the hell do you expect to make a trip like that in thirty minutes?" David asked in complete astonishment.

"Actually, it'll be a little less than that." Inori assumed her double-edged half-smile. "The Azure is capable of achieving mach nine, in three seconds, or less. That's just using the four wing thrusters. I haven't had a chance to test its main booster, yet. I think that this wouldn't be a good time to do that, however… All right, I'm leaving now. Good thing for me that I've already got my stuff packed.

"I'll leave you some money, so you buy your ticket outta here." Inori said, as she dropped a fistful of bills in David's hand. "Now, get your butt down there, and open those doors up for me!"

"Without even saying a proper good-bye, or a thank you?" Maxwell put his hands on his hips, looking up with an exaggerated look of hurt on his face. Inori looked down at him, and a smile slowly spread across her lips. Getting out of the cockpit, she caught David up in a tight hug.

"Thanks, man." She said softly, pulling away. Maxwell laughed, and held her at arm's length.

"Hey, don't worry about it." He smiled at her. "Just knowing that I'm helping to bring down OZ is enough for me. But- if you ever do need anything, again-"

"You'll be the first one I'll contact." She assured him with a grin. "Now hurry that cute ass of yours up, and open up those doors, for me, okay?"

A little more than ten minutes later, the Azure went screaming out of the warehouse, Inori having already loaded up all her things in the small cargo space in the Azure. The bulk of that space was taken up by her motorcycle, which she had somehow managed to fit into the proper holding area, in the Azure's inner left leg, in only two minutes.

"Okay, baby." She purred, "Let's just take this in stride, shall we?"

The Azure was already at mach nine, and holding it easily. She guessed that, if she used the main booster, now, without a proper flight suit, not only would the sudden increase in G's throw her head back violently enough to break her neck, but she'd also pass by India entirely. Nodding to herself, she stayed in mach nine, knowing it wouldn't take her long to get to India. It was about three thousand miles, that she'd be traveling. Not only that, but at nine times the speed of sound, she wouldn't be all that long, in arriving.

"I may've over done it, a little." She laughed to herself. For someone as intelligent as she was, Inori had well known to figure out the mathematics of it all before leaving, and wasn't overly concerned. "Oh well, I don't think that Rem'll mind such a fast response!"

­_-Twenty-five Minutes Later, Northwest India…_

They had him on the ropes. He could feel the hot warmth of his own blood, seeping down the side of his face, taste the bitter, metallic liquid in his mouth. Still, he had wanted this battle, he craved it. The sheer number of enemies, being so heavily outnumbered, the possibility of death was so close, he was almost crying aloud in ecstasy. He couldn't explain it, this yearning, to glimpse of the moment between life and death, it was almost more than he could handle.

Already, the Seraph was brought close to destruction. He had been forced to discard the beam cannon that served as the Seraph's left arm, it had suffered such heavy damage. Now, it was attached to the Seraph's back, utterly useless. He had been forced to fall back on the twin gundaniam scimitars. The blades were almost ridiculously shaped, and over-sized, but they were more than effective against the numerous Mobile Suits that flooded against him. The blades were sharp enough to force their way through the electrical shield formed by the Virgos, but Rem doubted that they would be enough to save him.

The Seraph sidestepped to avoid the incoming blasts of three Virgos, raising its scimitars high. With a mighty leap, the blades came crashing down, severing the defensive shields, as well as two of the Virgos, down the center. Rem quickly reversed the attack, bringing the right blade up into the third Virgo's cockpit, at an angle. There was a crackle of energy, almost as if the MS protested its own destruction, but it was soon consumed in its own internal flames.

That was only a small victory, Rem knew. There were still a good two hundred enemy Virgo S units remaining. How was it that OZ had gotten so many Mobile Suits to earth, so quickly? Even more baffling, how had they managed to find and mind-wipe so many men, to be their pilots? It left him wondering, if only he were given the chance to go back to outer space…

Rem wasn't given any time to ponder his thoughts. The combined blast from the beam cannons of four Virgos sent the Seraph crashing to its knees. Rem was rocked violently, in the pilot's seat, tasting the blood as it came up from his lungs. Clutching his Gundam's control with white-knuckled hands, Rem soon found himself laughing at the irony of the entire situation.

"So, this is how I die…" he chuckled darkly, repressing another bloody cough. He had wanted this battle, so badly, and he got what he asked for…

The sound of his radio crackling with an incoming communications caught him by surprise. Even more so was the low whistle, followed by the sound of a feminine voice speaking.

"Talk about your rock and a hard place situations!" the voice remarked with dry sarcasm. "I don't know how the hell you managed to get yourself into this mess, but, it looks like it's up to me to get you out of it, don't it?"

The face of a young woman appeared on his screen, the intensity of her ice blue eyes catching him off guard. She flashed him a cocky half-smile, winking and giving him a thumbs-up. "Konban-wa! I'm Inori Kazama, and I'll be your heroine, for today! So, please fasten your seat belts, and hold on tight for one _hell_ of a _ride_!"

Inori screamed into the battle regiments head first, maintaining her speed of mach nine for a few moments, to create a distortion field, using the extreme speeds. She rammed down a good two dozen Virgo S units, before reducing speed, and shooting off into the sky. Unfortunately, she knew that she couldn't use her beam rifle, because the Seraph was down there, and totally vulnerable to the blast. With a sigh, she went for the plasma saber.

Before she could activate the bladed weapon, however, the Azure shook violently, as it was struck by the blast of a Virgo S unit's beam cannon. She gave a yelp in surprise, feeling the Azure go screaming towards the earth, head first.

"Aw, _fuck_!" she growled, just barely keeping her wits about her. She straightened out the Azure's fall, spreading the wings out flat, and to the sides. Just before impact, she cued the reverse thrusters, the Azure landing on its own outstretched hands, and rolling forward, back onto its feet.

"Whoa!" Inori said, impressed by her own piloting skills. "How the hell did I manage _that_ landing?"

She didn't waste time pondering her question, however, finding herself in the midst of the near two hundred Virgo S units. She wasn't all that far from the Seraph, she could at least see the damaged Gundam from where she was. That was all she really needed, and Inori threw her beam rifle ahead, aiming at the largest mass of Virgo S units she could find.

"Sayonara!" she grinned, using her native dialect as she fired a blast that tore through the ranks of Virgo S units like the finger of God.

"Hey, you all right?" she asked the Seraph's pilot over their common communications frequency. Rem's blood-matted hair and bruised face appeared on her screen, and Inori fell back in an over-exaggerated wince.

"Damn! You got the shit kicked out of you, didn't ya?" she stated more than asked.

"Never mind that!" Rem snapped.

"Well, ya don't have to be so touchy!" she retorted, "I was just making an observation! Besides, I just saved your ass, didn't I?"

"Well, who's going to save yours?" Rem asked calmly, a cynical smile spreading over his thin lips. The remaining Virgos had regrouped, and were moving to surround the two of them.

"Oh, don't worry, I'm certain you'll think of something." Rem sneered sarcastically.

"Watch it, buddy." She growled, "The last guy who patronized me like that got his balls smashed with the two-ton foot of a Taurus!"

Inori dropped the beam rifle, activating the plasma saber, and sending a crescent energy wave screaming into the Virgo S ranks, too fast for them to react to.

"All right, listen up, Rem!" she snapped, too involved in the battle to bother with anything else. "I'll draw their attention, while you escape! Once you're gone, I'll get outta here, myself, the Azure is more than fast enough to outrun these brainless dicks!"

Rem could only grunt in agreement, picking the Seraph up off its knees, and spreading the wings for take off.

"All right, here goes!" Inori growled, picking up her beam rifle, and sending the Azure screaming forward, the plasma saber raised high. She dove into the Virgo S ranks, slicing her way through. The ruse worked, and she drew all fire away from the damaged Seraph. Rem took off without question, not even bothering to look back. He was soon well out of range, and despite the Seraph's battered condition, it would still outrun any enemies that pursued it.

"You're welcome!" Inori shouted after him, grunting as the Azure took a blow to the side. "All right, enough of this!"

The Azure leapt into the sky, leaving a blue trail of pale light in its wake. Aiming downwards with the beam rifle, Inori fired yet again taking out a good number of Virgos. She looked across the battlefield, noticing the charred craters from multiple blasts, from a significantly powerful beam cannon. She also noticed the countless forms of many butchered Virgo S suits, and she knew that she had only done so many of them, herself.

"Damn!" she said, impressed, "Just how long was this guy fighting for, before he sent for help?"

Shaking her head, Inori turned the Azure towards the Middle East. After so many weeks of no action, and the sudden frenzy she had just gotten into, she figured that a nice bit of time under some genuine sun would be a lot better.

"Looks like I was wrong."

Inori sighed helplessly, looking down upon the battle from high above. The Arabian Desert was littered with Mobile Suits, Virgo S units, against what the Azure had identified as Maganacs and Oliphants. The Maganac Corps, as she had reasoned, probably on another of its sting missions. Inori sighed, watching the battle with only slight interest. She didn't know if it would be worth the trouble, getting involved in this fight. While it wouldn't hurt to wipe out some more Virgo S Mobile Suits, and it would be helping good people, the Azure had suffered a bit, under that last attack, and Inori didn't want to put her Gundam under any more pressure, without knowing what she was getting into, first.

She picked up a white suit, fighting with the Maganac Corps, far below. The Azure identified it as the Sandrock Gundam, or the Sandrock II, more specifically, piloted by Kahna Ramsus Winner, as Dr. Crow had told her. From what she saw, the Sandrock seemed to be doing pretty good. Kahna was a fairly decent MS pilot, considering the limited military experience he'd had.

Inori yawned, just watching the battle. So far, it didn't look like her assistance was needed. She clasped her hands behind her head watching the battle unfold. A sound on her radar diverted her attention, as the Azure picked up two large MS carriers, all filled with OZ mobile Suits.

"Well, that just isn't fair!" she said, annoyed. "The battle's already evenly matched! That's just cheating!" Inori grasped the Azure's controls, her double-edged, half-smile playing on her lips.

"I really hate cheaters." She said in an almost husky voice.

"Master Kahna!" he heard Razul's voice sound in alarm, "Our radar's have picked up two OZ Mobile Suit carriers, heading our direction! They're most likely reinforcements!"

"Damn!" Kahna cursed quietly. The Maganac Corps was already hard pressed, in this battle. If those reinforcements landed, many precious lives would be lost. Kahna couldn't stand it, if he lost any more men.

"All right, Razul, do you think you can hold the enemies down here?"

"Of course, Master!" Razul said with a confident smile.

"Good! I'll head off those carriers, and destroy them before they can drop those reinforcements!"

Under the protective cover fire of his soldiers, Kahna took off into the sky. The Sandrock's twin sickles gleamed in the sun, held like scissors under the shield.

_I have to destroy those carriers!_ He thought with urgency, _If I don't hurry, our forces will be overwhelmed!_

The two OZ carriers came within sight, and Kahna urged the Sandrock II forward, as fast as he possibly could. He separated the two gundanium sickles, prepared to cut into the first carrier with everything he could muster. The Sandrock II rocketed forward, its blades gleaming in the light. Kahna rushed underneath the first carrier, holding the two sickles out, and slicing the underside of the carrier. One blade took off one of the wings, and started spiraling downwards, to the earth in flames.

The second carrier began deploying its Mobile Suits, the Virgos moving into position to attack the Sandrock. Kahna cursed, knowing that he should've been faster. Now, he was out numbered, and would soon be at a sore disadvantage.

"Come on, then!" he shouted. "I can take you! Let's see just how well you stand up to Sandrock!"

From somewhere in the sky above him, a crescent wave of bluish energy screamed downwards, into the second carrier. The unfortunate plane exploded into flames, before it finished unloading all of its Mobile Suits, its debris following its partner to crash into the earth below.

"What-!" Kahna said in surprise, looking upwards. He caught the flash of light, as the sun reflected off of its armor. The Gundam came speeding towards him, and the Virgo S units. All Virgos started firing away at the Gundam, distracted. Kahna seized the opportunity, rushing one with the Sandrock, and cutting straight through the middle. Still, he was taken by surprise as another Virgo fired at him from behind, sending himself and the Sandrock down to the earth with a helpless cry.

Inside the Azure, Inori saw the underhanded attack, and burned with rage. She increased the Azure's speed, using the distortion field trick to blast the Virgos out of the sky, as she screamed past. Once the Azure had caught up with the falling Sandrock, she cued the reverse thrusters, catching the heavy Gundam with her own, and using the Azure's thrusters to slow their descent.

They landed in the middle of the battlefield, between both sides. Razul cried out to Kahna in fear, praying that this Gundam's pilot wasn't that same as the last one. Inside the Azure, Inori was seriously annoyed. She spun the Gundam about, aiming the beam rifle at the Virgo S units, and firing a blast that leveled the field.

"That's what you get for pissing me off!" she shouted, once the light had faded. Her attention was diverted, though, as the Sandrock stood carefully beside her, raising its weapons defensively.

"Hey, you okay?" she asked, noticing that the Maganac Corps was surrounding her, as it approached.

"Umm, did I say something wrong?" she said with a nervous smile. All Maganac and Oliphant Mobile Suits aimed their weapons at her, Inori fell back into her seat defensively.

"Guess so." She laughed nervously, tightening her grip on her controls.

"Razul, stop!" she heard the young man's voice. "This Gundam's pilot is not our enemy!"

The face of who could only be Kahna Ramsus Winner appeared on her screen, a slightly sad look on his face.

"I apologize." He said sincerely, "The last time my men and I encountered a Gundam, we… lost one. It wasn't pleasant."

Inori could almost see the tears forming in his eyes. She smiled softly, to try and ease him. "It's… all right. It's only natural that you should act like that, if what I think happened, happened."

Kahna smiled at her, a soft, grateful smile. "I thank you. My name is Kahna Ramsus Winner, what's yours, I ask?"

Inori gave him a soft half-smile. "It's Inori. Inori Kazama. And this-" she patted the Azure's cockpit. "Is the Gundam Azure."

Inori gripped the controls, making the Azure do an extravagant bow. "We are both at your service, Mr. Winner."

She heard him laughing, and soon started giggling herself. They both were laughing like old friends, and Razul, in the cockpit of his Maganac, sighed in relief.

"This is the fourth time I've caught you here, in the last two weeks!" Inori's voice broke through his thoughts. Kahna turned around to see the considerably tall young woman approach him. She stopped, standing beside him, looking up at the Sandrock II, as he had just been. It was a little strange, looking up at her like that. She was three inches taller than his height of five feet and six inches, and while Kahna should've been used to taller women, since all of his sisters were older than himself, he still felt strange, standing next to one.

"Okay, what is it this time?" Inori asked, turning her pale, ice blue eyes to look at him. "What's been bothering you, now? And don't go giving me that line about you being worried about the future. I know you well enough by now to know that you only come here when you're thinking about the past."

Kahna smiled somewhat nervously at Inori. She was right, for the past three weeks, Inori had been staying with the Maganac Corps, assisting them with whatever she could. Not only that, but the two of them had become very close friends, in a very short amount of time. Kahna felt as if he had found a kindred spirit in Inori, someone who was similarly burdened with great responsibility.

"I've been thinking about my father." He confessed.

"Again?" Inori asked, her eyes getting a little concerned. "You think about him so much, Kahna. Do you really blame yourself, that much?"

"It's not that I blame myself." Kahna said, looking up at the Sandrock. "It's just that, I wish that I could've done something, anything! To make him be here, now…"

Inori sighed, understanding, a little. She put an arm around Kahna's shoulders, and hugged him from behind.

"I think I know what you mean." She confessed, "I felt the same way, when my mother died. And then, when I had to leave my father, back on the lunar base. I didn't even get to say good-bye…"

They were silent for a long moment, comforting each other with the other's presence, and understanding. It felt so good, to finally find someone they could talk to about those personal feelings.

"Miss Kazama!" the tender moment was interrupted, as one of the engineers working on Inori's Gundam shouted out to her. "You're receiving a message from someone!"

"Okay! I'll be right up!" Inori glanced down at Kahna with a friendly smile. "Well, c'mon!" she laughed, running off to the stairs, that led up to the great stone platforms, and catwalks.

"Hey! Wait for me, Inori!" Kahna protested, but he couldn't help smiling. Inori's carefree attitude always made him feel so much better about things. She beat him up the stairs, her long legs and graceful strides always got ahead of him. He intended to beat her, though, one day. He just didn't know when it would be. By the time he caught up to her, she was already inside the Azure's cockpit, her eyes scanning over her mission assignment.

"What is it?" Kahna asked, out of breath from climbing the stairs.

"According to mission control's information, they say that the Gundam Seraph has self-detonated, somewhere in Siberia."

"The Seraph? Isn't that the one you said was here before you? The one who killed… one of my men?" Kahna choked on the words, remembering the painful incident.

"That's right. But, according to this, the Seraph wasn't involved in any kind of battle or danger, at the time. They want me to go, and check it out, right away." Inori started strapping herself into the Azure.

"Kahna, do me a favor, and ask the guys to open up one of the doors, will you? I promise that I'll be back, soon."

"Let me come!"

Inori looked up at the young Winner heir in surprise. "What?"

"Please, Inori." He said softly, "I want to go with you, in case…"

"In case, Rem is there, right?"

Kahna looked down, embarrassed. "Yes."

Inori sighed. "Oh, fine! But hurry up and get in the Sandrock, or I'll be leaving without you!"

Kahna looked up, hopefully, then hopped away from the Azure's cockpit, running for his own Gundam.

"And remember! Tell them to open up one of gates!" Inori shouted after him. She then fell back into the pilot's seat with an exasperated sigh. "What am I doing?"

The cockpit sealed with a steamy hiss, and the Azure backed away from the dock.

The Seraph's signal was coming from near one of the most remote areas of Siberia. Inori couldn't help wondering, just what the hell had happened to make Rem self-detonate, in one of the most desolate places on earth. It was down right stupid!

_There'd better be a good reason for this_, she thought with feigned anger. She didn't like having to fly out to the middle of nowhere, with such a vulnerable carrier. Both her and Kahna's Gundams were loaded inside, with extra room for the Seraph, if enough of it was salvageable. "No need to waste a good Gundam!", as Inori had insisted. Still, they had to rely on the Azure's ability to track the other two Gundams, a little feature that Dr. Crow had installed, just for her. So, with Inori flying the Azure, and Kahna following the carrier, it was a rather slow going, since the bulky plane couldn't travel as fast as Inori's Gundam.

"Okay, I've managed to pinpoint the signal." Inori said to Kahna, over the communications frequency. "I'll be taking the Azure down, now. Follow my signal in Sandrock, once you find a place to land."

"Roger!"

Inori took the Azure to a faster speed, descending in the general area of the bleeping dot. She brought the Azure down in a rough area, landing in a kneeling position, for easier access to the cockpit.

"Now, according to my radar, the Seraph should be… there!" she said, seeing the ruined MS underneath a camouflage net. She started in surprise, what was the point of putting a useless Mobile Suit under camouflage? There was just no point to it. Opening the cockpit, she banged the side of the Azure, letting the cable begin its descent to the ground. She, on the other hand, didn't waste her time, and leapt out, despite the height she was up at. She landed on her feet, running over to the edge of the Seraph's camouflage net. She picked it up by one end, she pulled back, even using her telekinetics to help rid the Gundam of the bothersome net.

When the net slid off at last, Inori was surprised to find the Gundam in such good shape. Despite the lengths Crow had gone to, to build a superior detonation device for the Gundams, one that would destroy the entire suit, and not leave anything in any one piece, the Gundams were still resilient enough to survive self-detonation in relatively good shape.

The wind picked up, and was followed by the sound of turbines blaring. Inori covered her face protectively, watching as the Sandrock II slowed its approach, landing in an upright position. The cockpit opened smoothly, and Kahna stepped out.

"Is that it?" he shouted down at her.

"Yeah! And it appears to be in good enough shape to take back with us!" she returned.

"What about the pilot?"

Inori shook her head. "He's not around, and I don't think he will be, either!" Inori looked back to the damaged Seraph, her hands on her hips. Just what had happened, to make Rem self-detonate? Out in the middle of nowhere, too. It just didn't make any sense…

"Okay!" she shouted up at Kahna, shrugging at her thoughts, "Let's get this thing loaded into the carrier!"

The Seraph was in the process of being repaired. The engineers spent a lot of the time following Inori's instruction, and the rest of the time, she was either sleeping, or trying to figure out what had happened. She had mentally replayed her encounter with him dozens of times, but she just couldn't seem to figure it out.

Kahna was left with his own problems, and he knew better than to be hurt by Inori's current lack of attention. They were both busy, with some sort of official business, both barely had any time to talk with the other. Still, Inori kept getting more and more concerned about what had happened. A month had almost gone by, since they had brought the Seraph back to the Maganac Corps base of operations, and there hadn't been much in the way of enemy movement. It was almost like everything was at a stand still.

Inori was sitting in the Azure's cockpit, when Kahna finally stopped by to say hello. They both looked at each other, haggard and worn, and immediately burst out laughing. Despite neglecting their friendship for the past month, nothing had really changed, between them.

"How are you holding up, Kahna?" Inori asked, shaking away the last of her laughter.

Kahna shrugged. "Okay, I guess. And you?"

"Well, it's more like I'm doing all the holding part, but nothing's really going up, y'know?"

"Yeah, I think I do." Kahna laughed again. He glanced down in the Seraph's direction, a concerned look coming over his face.

"What is it?" he heard Inori ask. He shook his head.

"I don't know. I just keep getting this funny feeling, when I think about the Seraph's pilot… What do you think happened to him?"

Inori turned her focus inward, lowering her eyes. "…I don't know, Kahna. Rem didn't strike me as the type of man who'd give up easily…"

The lower right corner of her left-most screen caught her attention, as it flashed with an incoming message. She skimmed it over with her eyes, which widened slightly in surprise.

_It's from Takeru…_, she thought. _He's been trapped, down in Australia, fighting a horde of Virgo S suits. He's hiding right now, but- he's requesting for my help? He must really be in some serious trouble, to ask **me**__for help…_

"…What is it, Inori?" the sound of Kahna's voice drew her out of her trance, and she turned her ice blue eyes to regard him.

"You look as if something's wrong…" he said. She sighed.

"Something _is_ wrong. The other Gundam pilot, the one who flies the Neo Wing ZERO, is in some pretty serious trouble…"

"Well, let's go help him, then!" Kahna said in determination.

"Whoa! Hold everything!" Inori snapped, breaking Kahna's determined look. "Who said anything about 'we'? _I'm_ going, Kahna. Not you, not this time!"

"But, Inori-!" Kahna protested, assuming the determined look of a leader, someone who'd seen many battles, and taken in all the sorrows and regrets of those battles. "I'm a seasoned pilot, you know I can help you! The Maganac Corps will assist, as well! I know they will! If this guy's in trouble, then-"

"It's not your responsibility!" Inori cut him off, "First off, Kahna, Takeru is requesting my help, and mine alone! Second, Takeru's in Australia. If you and the Maganac Corps tagged along, it would take far too long to wait for the carriers. The Azure's speed can get me there in very little time. If I waited for the Maganac Corps, it's very likely that Takeru may not be alive, when we got there, understand?"

Kahna was taken aback by Inori's words.

"It's not that I don't appreciate what you're trying to do, Kahna." She said more gently, "But you have other responsibilities to worry about. I don't want any more of your brave soldiers dying, because of a Gundam. And that goes for you, especially!"

He could see the sincerity in her eyes, and knew that she was fighting with her own emotions.

"I'm sorry, Kahna." She said softly, "But this is a matter for a Gundam pilot."

The Azure's cockpit closed with a hiss, and he could almost hear Inori snapping on her safety harness. The slender Gundam backed away from the dock, and began to steadily walk towards the nearest open gate. It paused at the entrance, crouching low. The turbines began a steady crescendo up to a mighty roar, and the fifth thruster opened up on the back, flaring to life.

Inori hadn't used the main booster, before, and she wasn't wearing the proper flight suit to protect herself from the G's. Building up a telekinetic cushion around herself, Inori steadily pushed up the main throttle, holding back the Azure's launch until she had the speed for the take off.

Finally, unable to hold back the Azure any longer, the slender Gundam practically flashed out of site, screaming past mach nine in under ten seconds, practically being forced against the chair.

Kahna watched his new and dear friend take off, a tear riding down his cheek, before being wiped away in determination.

"Yes, it is a matter for Gundam pilots." He said softly, "Which is why I _am_ one."

­_-Australia, the Western Coast…_

He didn't know how much longer he could hide safely. Virgo S units were almost swarming about, looking for him. It was like being in wasp, hiding in a hornets' nest! Takeru kept all of the Neo's functions powered down, not wanting to show up on any possible scanners. His palms were sweating, and he had the salty, metallic taste of blood in his mouth, from when he had bitten deeply into his own lip, after receiving a blow, from behind. He himself remained motionless, the only risk he had taken was to contact Inori, and hope that the Azure was fast enough to get here before he was discovered, and killed. It wasn't much of a hope, but it was probably better than self-detonating. If he did that, then he at least wanted to be surrounded by a good number of Virgos, and deprive OZ of its ultimate victory.

The only functions he had left on were the main camera, and radar. Those two things would at least be enough to save him from total surprise, if he was discovered. He was willing to risk at least that much, because it would at least save him.

He had been down in Australia, for so long, checking up on a simple rumor that he hadn't liked the sound of. After nearly a month of exploring, he learned that it wasn't just a rumor. OZ was building a Gundam, something huge, and at least as powerful as the Neo Wing ZERO, maybe stronger. He hadn't been able to learn much more about it, beyond its name;

Omen.

It had been named after the godly symbol that could portend either redemption, or ultimate damnation. If this Gundam was as powerful as he thought it would be, then the name would be rather fitting. Still, its purpose would depend on the pilot. Would he be a forgiving man? Or, would he be something horrible? Takeru didn't know, but either way, he had decided to kill the man, and destroy the Omen.

Two Virgos appeared on his radar. They had been going around in pairs, for the search. A rather good tactic, actually. That way, one could distract the target, while the other could radio the coordinates to all other units in the area. He could hear the turbines roaring as they approached, then slowed, and quieted down with their landing. He narrowed his eyes, tensing. He felt the sweat on his palms, as he gripped the Neo's controls. He took a breath to calm himself, and unwrapped his fingers from around the controls, wiping the moisture from his hands onto his jeans. Taking another steadying breath, Takeru eased his hands back onto the controls, ready to attack at a moment's notice, should he be discovered.

The Virgos walked side by side, scanning the area with their cameras. He knew that they were using all of their scanners to locate him. So far, however, his camouflage seemed to be holding out. They couldn't detect him, even though their cameras had scanned over his location several times, by now. Since the pilots of the Virgo S units had lost their ability to sense the possible presence of others, they couldn't make out the rough shape of the Neo, amongst the trees, in fighter mode. That had been another trick that turned out rather useful The Virgos had only seen his Gundam as a Mobile Suit, not as a fighter. That would put them into confusion, and, should he attack, keep them thinking that there were two attackers, an MS, and a fighter plane. It wasn't much of a tactic, but it was all he had, right now.

The Virgos fired up their thrusters, preparing for departure. Takeru wasn't about to heave a sigh of relief, just yet, however. He wouldn't relax until they were out of his radar's range.

"What have you found?"

The soldier turned around to look at the pilot of the Omen, swallowing hard. There was something about this guy that just put everyone ill at ease.

"N-nothing yet, sir." He stammered. "The Virgo S units haven't found anything that could possibly be a Mobile Suit in hiding."

The young man sighed hard. "Have you downloaded the schematics for the Gundams, yet?"

"Uh, n-no, sir."

"Do it now." His voice was chill, unnerving, like a bloody dagger being wiped clean on velvet. The soldier didn't even respond that time, he just quickly downloaded the information, to all Virgo S units.

The Virgos suddenly stopped, their main cameras flashing, as if they had just received some new information. Takeru narrowed his eyes, gripping the controls tightly. Would he have to fight them?

The Virgos began scanning the area, once more. This time, the one closest to him stopped when it looked his way. It stood there for a long moment, as if waiting for something. Takeru gripped at the controls, until his knuckles were white. Had they found him?

"Sir! One of the Virgo S patrols seems to have found something, similar to the Neo Wing ZERO's fighter schematics."

The Omen's pilot leaned forward, over the soldier's shoulder, and making him very uneasy.

"Bring it on screen." He commanded. The soldier did as asked, not wanting to question the dangerous pilot.

For a long time, he stared at that screen, silent, the feint scent of wine and rose petals hovering about him like some sort of plague, and he didn't even drink. A smile like the edge of a scimitar played on is lips, dark eyes narrowing slightly. What was he thinking?

"Uh, sir?" the soldier asked nervously, "Shall I have the Virgo S units attack?"

Again, there was a long silence. He just kept staring at the screen, with that scimitar smile of his…

"No." he said in finality. "Tell them to disband, all of them. I'll handle him myself."

The soldier sighed as he walked away, issuing his command to the Virgos. He entered the elevator, ordering the soldier to take him to the Mobil Suit docks.

"This time…" he hissed, "This time, I shall see just how strong you really are… Takeru."

The main cameras of the two Virgos flashed again, with an incoming command. Takeru tensed, his sweaty palms gripping the controls of the Neo in a death grip. If they were going to attack him, he was determined to get of the first shot.

Slowly, the Virgos turned about, their thrusters flaring to life with an angry roar, and they took off into the sky. Takeru didn't understand, but he refused to relax, just yet. He didn't trust OZ, not for anything. The Virgos made no attempt to turn about, and fire, though. Was he really in the clear?

Screaming through the sky, at impossible speeds, a crescent wave of pale blue energy tore into one of the Virgo S units, severing it cleanly into two separate parts. The energy wave continued on through the first Virgo, and through the second, destroying both without further warning. Takeru's eyes widened, his grip on his controls tightening, as he ground his teeth together.

"There's no reason for you to be so uptight." A familiar voice chimed over the radio. If only a little, his grip on the controls let up in relief. Inori's face came onto the screen, her normally smiling eyes dark and alert, her lips thin. "I don't know how the hell you managed to get yourself into this one, Takeru, but you sure managed to bury yourself neck-deep in shit."

"Thanks for your vote of confidence." He returned in a flat tone of voice. The Azure alighted next to the trees, where the Neo was hidden. Takeru used the vertical take-off jets, to remove the Mobile Suit in the shape of a plane from its cover. He transformed the Gundam in midair, landing the Neo in a kneeling position, beside Inori's Azure.

"How the hell did you get here so fast?" he asked, letting a bit of surprise creep into his voice. Inori's face shrugged.

"The Azure was designed for speed, remember?" she said, half paying attention. "I just went all-out, and used the main booster… That's funny."

"What?" Takeru urged the Neo into a standing position, he didn't like the look Inori had in her eyes, or the tone of her voice.

"My Gundam's scanners are picking up Virgo units all around us, but- they aren't attacking." She was quiet for a moment longer, her pale, ice blue eyes scanning the readouts on the Azure's screens. "I think… I think they're heading back to the base."

Takeru took a moment to ponder this. "That means they know my position. They'll probably be sending _that_ out, to catch us…"

"Send _what_ out?" Inori raised an eyebrow in concern. "There's something you're not telling me, isn't there?"

Takeru nodded with a small sound of agreement. "The rumor I came out here to investigate, turned out to be more than just a rumor."

Inori regarded him quietly, holding her breath for his next comment.

"OZ has built a Gundam, a powerful one, at least as strong as my Neo Wing ZERO, maybe stronger. It's called Omen."

Inori fell back into her seat, her teeth gritted, and a look of sheer anger in her eyes. How could they have been so careless? Letting them get away with building a Gundam!

"How long do we have until it's completed?" she said flatly, not wanting to let Takeru know about her personal anger.

"It's already built."

Inori looked up in shock. "What? How? There's no way they could've built it so fast!"

"From what I've learned, they've been constructing it for the last two years, just like ours. They were just waiting for the chance to use it."

"But, how…?"

Silence fell between them. How could OZ have had the technology to build a Gundam? And without the people of the lunar base finding out? Gundanium alloy could only be refined in outer space, so there had to be a point where they built this Gundam, inside one of the space colonies. It just didn't add up.

Both of their radars went off in alert, simultaneously. Without so much as word passing between the two of them, they hid both Gundams inside the brush, switching off all but their main screens. Inori crouched the Azure low, ready to make the first attack, if need be. Already she could hear the turbines of the two approaching Mobile Suits. Had she been wrong about all the Virgos going back? Or, was this Oz's Gundam, the one Takeru had said was called "Omen"?

They waited in silence, both gripping the controls with sweaty palms. The shadows of the two Mobile Suits settled nearby, but, Inori noticed something unusual. The shadows should've been bulkier, for two Virgo S units, these seemed much more slender than that, however, more of something similar to a Leo.

Dust flew about in a great cloud, obscuring their view of what it was that was landing. The sound of turbines died away, and the dust settled, showing Inori and Takeru the two Mobile Suits.

A Maganac, and the Sandrock II.

"_Kahna!_" Inori shouted in surprise, the Azure standing straight up. If it weren't for her restraining harness, Inori would've stood inside her Gundam's cockpit, and hit her head against the upper control panel.

The Sandrock turned around to face the Azure, Kahna's face appearing on the screens of both the Azure and Neo Wing ZERO. Takeru raised an eyebrow, remaining silent. He recognized the boy's face, and his name. This was probably Kahna Ramsus Winner, the heir of the Winner family.

"Good! I knew that the tracer would work." He said.

Inori nearly lost it. "What the _hell_ are you doing here! I told you, this wasn't any of your concern, dammit!"

"Inori, please calm down!" Kahna pleaded softly, the serious look in his eyes, and the softness of his voice getting though. "Please, just listen to what I have to say."

Inori growled. "You've got five minutes." She said through gritted teeth.

Kahna sighed softly. "I know that you wanted me to stay back with the Maganac Corps. You were probably right, too. I understand your concern for me, but- this was something I had to do!"

The strength of his resolve caught Takeru by surprise. He even saw Inori's anger-hardened features soften, her scowl melting away into something gentler.

"Ever since I lost my father, I feel as though I was trying to block out the pain, to cover it up, by pressing myself forward, and following in my great-grandfather's footsteps. I felt as if, I owed that to him, but I could never bring myself to truly confront my feelings about it. That was why, I always found myself staring up at the Sandrock, it was like I was standing at the feet of my Father's legacy, and I could never bring myself to climb it, simply for myself. I always flew the Sandrock out of duty, not out of my own beliefs.

"When I saw that Oliphant's pilot be destroyed, something dawned on me. I was fighting for my father. But, my father's dead. From now on, I will fight for myself, for my own reasons! I will follow my own heart, no matter what dangers it leads me to!…"

There was silence. Takeru regarded Inori's face carefully, she had closed her eyes, and was pondering his words. Kahna was a fine soldier, he thought, a leader of men. It went without question why Inori had wanted him to stay. However.

"That was well put, Kahna Winner." He said softly, startling everyone, except Inori. The Neo rose from the cover of the trees, and Takeru's face appeared on Kahna's screen. "I do believe that you were right in coming here, for your own purposes. However, it may not have been such a wise choice."

"Kahna…" all attention turned to Inori, her soft voice drawing away their stares. "Kahna, I think Takeru is right, but…" her eyes came up, that fierce determination like flames in her eyes. "But if you go and get yourself killed, I swear to God, I'll resurrect you, take you back, and then kill you all over again!"

Her response left them in further silence, but, Kahna cracked a smile. He found his shoulders shaking with quiet laughter, and was soon unable to contain himself. He looked over, and Inori was doing the same thing. It was good, very good, to have such a friend.

Within the Azure's cockpit, Inori managed to bring her laughter under control. Kahna was still laughing, so was Razul. She had finally noticed that it was Kahna's second in command who had come here with him, it had certainly taken her long enough.

"Inori." The sound of her voice being spoken drew her attention away, to the corner where Takeru's face hung. "We should get the hell out of here, now." He said flatly. Inori nodded her consent.

"All right, let's-" a chill feeling in the back of her mind, a cold in her sense, alerted Inori to danger. She could feel the malevolence of this force! The Azure spun about, looking above the four Mobile Suits. Her actions alerted the others, Takeru immediately assuming a defensive stance.

There, hovering above them, was what could only be the Omen.

It was the color of dark blood, the kind that had spilled on white silk sheets, and spread like a plague. Its body had been designed similar to that of a Taurus, lean and tall, with rounded legs and arms. However, the shoulders were bulkier, and rounded, like those of a Virgo. The forelegs and forearms seemed like strange boots, closer to the knee and elbow joints, with the strange, armored spikes that covered the joints. The feet were narrow, different than a Taurus' feet. And the head, it was more akin to the heads of the Vayeate and Tallgeese combined, only rounded, and smooth, with the two blazing green eyes of a Gundam's humanoid face. A single, slender antenna rose from the forehead, not very tall, but it needed nothing further. Two wings, similar to what had been used on the Epyon, were slightly rampant, their powerful turbines holding the Gundam aloft. A fold-over chain gun had been mounted on the shoulder, no other weapons or defenses could be seen. On its chest, the feint markings of some unidentifiable symbol could be seen.

This was Omen.

Takeru inhaled with a hiss through gritted teeth, his eyes narrowing into slits. He was regretting that the others hadn't taken the precious time available to them to escape, but there was no way he could get out of this now. They had no choice but to fight, there was no other alternative. The Omen seemed to be gloating down at them, almost flaunting them with its presence. Why did it seem as if were acting superior? The arrogance of its stance, the blazing green eyes, they were so familiar…

"Well, this certainly puts a damper on things." Inori voiced her usual dry humor, despite the seriousness of the situation. Takeru glanced down at the corner of his screen that displayed the young woman's face. Despite the light-hearted sarcasm in her tone, he saw the cold look in her eyes. It caught him off guard, since he had never actually seen Inori in battle. She ground her teeth together, as if she were anxious, but the look within the ice blue orbs of her eyes was devoid of feeling, of any possible warmth. She had only the determined look of a soldier in her eyes.

Further curiosity drove him glance at the face of Kahna, the young Winner family heir. He too appeared to be anxious, but genuinely so. He gripped the controls of his Mobile Suit tightly, his eyes narrowed, and shivering with nervous concern. Takeru could almost hear him mentally berate himself for being so foolish, and not paying attention.

Takeru's eyes came back to the Omen. It remained hovering above them, arms folded across the chest. Why did it seem so familiar? That stance, that pose, he had seen it somewhere before, but he just couldn't place it.

There was something else, a premonition, someone would die in this battle. Someone would die, at Omen's hands. Takeru had never given any thought to his own life. All he knew was that he had to keep fighting, he would fight all those who would fight against him, till their deaths, and ultimately, his own. Death would mean an end to his fighting, and in some strange way, it seemed to be a release. It beckoned to him, like a lover, laying in wait, whispering in his ear. He felt its warm breath on the back of his neck, whenever he fought.

Now, his lover had taken a much more definitive approach.

The Neo reached up, part of its left shoulder opening up to reveal the handle of a beam saber. He grasped the weapon, pulling it free. The length of the green glowing blade flared to life, one drawn, and the Neo raised the shield on the left arm above the cockpit protectively. The Gundam fell back into a somewhat defensive stance. Takeru welcomed this new aspect of his lover, this lure of death. What other choice did he have?

The change of the Neo's stance did not go unnoticed. Within the cockpit of the Azure, Inori turned her attention to the corner of her screen that was inhabited by Takeru's face. It was strange, while he had always been so callous, so unemotional, there was something different about him, now. Whatever light had shone in his eyes before, whatever part of his soul that pushed through enough to glimmer in his chocolate brown orbs, was gone. Takeru had lost any sense of self-value, he had no care for his own life.

This came through Inori's guise, striking something painfully familiar. Somehow, seeing Takeru like this, it hurt her, in that place where she kept things that always remained hidden behind the smile in her eyes. Inori turned away, pondering this. Had Takeru lost so much of his heart, that he placed no value on his own life?

_Takeru…_

The voice of his lover beckoned to him. He started, the voice was so real in his mind, it had almost seemed to be audible. His eyes widened, what had happened to him, to make him this way?

_Takeru…fight me…_

He wasn't given any time to ponder this, the spectacle of death lured just above him. The arrogant stance of the Omen, its green eyes blazing, beckoning him to battle.

_Takeru… fight me!_

"Huhn?" Takeru grunted at the urgency of his lover's voice. Holding the Neo's controls in a vice-like grip, the turbines of the Gundam roared to life, and it screamed towards the hovering Omen.

"Wha- Takeru?" Inori called out in protest, vainly hoping her voice would break his charge.

"What's he doing?" she heard Kahna asked, his voice anxious. Inori just shook her head. This couldn't be happening!

The Omen lost the arrogance its stance, unfolding its arms in anticipation of the oncoming Neo. Takeru swung the beam saber down in a vicious chop that would've cleaved any Virgo in half. Like some sort of choreography, the Omen danced away from the attack, alighting on the ground below. Its wings tucked themselves neatly away, and the OZ Gundam looked towards the Neo in anticipation of the next attack. Takeru came down with a primal cry, hardly surprised by the expected dodge. Faster than expected, he had pivoted the Neo in midair, and sent it after the Omen, hot on its move. Once again, the OZ Gundam leapt backwards, and Takeru pressed in once more. This time, his beam saber came in from low, on the side in an upward, sideways arc.

The Omen made no move to dodge this time. A plasma saber seared forth from above the Omen's right wrist, stopping the Neo's beam saber with the reddish energy of its own blade. Takeru had expected the counter, but he was still surprised. Plasma sabers were native only to the Elite Defense Unit of the lunar base. They were attached to the Taurus's, in place of beam sabers, and required specialized skill to utilize effectively. Inori had been part of the unit, which explained the plasma saber equipped to her own. Who was this pilot, to have a plasma saber equipped to this Gundam? Could he also be from the lunar base?

The sound of silky, cynical laughter filtered over the communications frequency. It was a deep, but soft masculine voice, and reminded Takeru of a bloodied dagger being wiped clean on velvet. It was also strikingly familiar to his ears.

"Oh-ho, yes, Takeru!" it purred, "Come at me! Don't hold back! This time, you will show me your _true_ strength!"

Takeru shoved the Omen away from him, the Neo leaping away as well. Takeru's eyes were wide, and he panted softly. That voice! He _knew_ that voice!

"I-I _know_ you!" Kahna's voice interrupted his thoughts. The young Winner family heir looked much like Takeru, nearly horrified by the familiarity of the voice. "You! You're the one who-who murdered-"

The dark, silky laughter of the Omen's pilot filtered into their ears, nearly everyone tensing at the sound. "I must admit, you are perceptive, Kahna Winner."

The omen turned to regard the Azure, which had remained motionless since the beginning. Inori's expression had become blank, but Takeru could see her anger burning behind her eyes. It was the first time he had ever seen her truly angry. Her psionics forced her to constantly keep her anger in check, so most of her outbursts were feigned. This, however, was unnerving.

"And you," the voice continued, "Such a free spirit. Do _you_ recognize me as well? Inori?"

"Rem." Inori's voice was flat, toneless, and strangely soft.

Appearing in the center of all their screens, Rem's face was like some shadowed image of past bitter memories. While inarguably handsome, the chill in his eyes was enough to freeze the blood. His eyes were now turned towards Takeru, his thin lips turned up at the corners, his dark, marble-like eyes narrowed in his confidence. Takeru's eyes also narrowed, answering with an unspoken promise.

The spark that had lit between them during their first encounter flared up in fury, burning with all the anger and rage of their two hearts. Words were unnecessary. There was only one thought between them, a mutual desire to kill the other. Not for glory, not to prove who was the better, not for any kind of personal vendetta. They wanted to kill each other, it went no further beyond that.

"Well, this is certainly an interesting turn of events, wouldn't you say?" Rem asked, as if he were trying to make light-hearted conversation. "One of the very three people Crow selected to become a Gundam pilot, turned out to be the same man who was the traitor. The same man who gave OZ all of the information it needed, from the lunar base."

"Who's a man?" Inori snapped at Rem's image. "You're something that was scraped off the inside of a liquor barrel!"

Rem only shrugged, but he kept his arrogant smile, never taking his eyes away from Takeru. "All the same," he said, his smile finally fading away to a dark line. "I think it's time I concluded my mission- and kill you."

Only Kahna tensed at those words, Inori and Takeru remained unmoving, their eyes dark and without feeling. Rem assumed his smile once more.

"Now, which of you should I kill first?" he almost purred in anticipation. "Shall it be you, Takeru? No, I think not. I do believe that my greatest challenge should be saved for last.

"That leaves the three of you." The Omen turned towards Inori and Kahna. Razul maneuvered his Maganac before Kahna's Sandrock defensively, determined to protect his young master.

"Shall it be you, Inori?" Rem teased, admiring the delicate beauty of her face, and the strength that burned in her pale, ice blue orbs. "The woman who saved me, when my death could have very well saved everyone here? Or, maybe you, Winner."

Rem turned the Omen more in Kahna's direction, savoring the young man's look of nervous anger. "The boy who was saved by sacrificing one of his own. Yes, it would make the most sense to kill you first."

Kahna could hear Razul growling over the radio. The last thing he wanted was for another of his men to die, protecting him. He wanted to tell Razul to move aside, tell him to escape, but Rem's icy stare held him, almost paralyzed him.

"The first to die…" Rem said teasingly. "Will be… you!"

The Omen spun about, the wings spreading wide and the turbines roaring, sending the OZ Gundam towards the Azure. It had caught everyone off guard, Inori barely managed to recover fast enough to somewhat defend herself.

The Omen rammed the slender Azure, sending the lighter MS flying backwards, into the expanse of trees. The Azure, tumbled in a backward roll, and crashed onto the Mobile Suit's hindquarters. Unable to prevent herself, Inori let out a brief but shrill shriek of surprise.

"Inori! _Inori_!" Kahna wailed in fear for his dear friend, using the Sandrock II to push Razul aside, and run towards the downed Gundam, and its attacker. He charged Rem with a cry of battle, the Sandrock reaching behind its back for one of its sickles.

Rem took Kahna by surprise, the Omen twisting about with great speed to face its attacker, rushing forward. Kahna reeled in shock, a critical mistake. The Omen moved as if it were human, like a skilled martial artist would. Jabbing sharply at the midsection, just before the cockpit, Rem stopped the Sandrock in mid-charge. It then brought down an elbow onto the bending Sandrock's back, followed by a knee to the chest, sending the older-model Gundam staggering backwards. The Omen's right hand clenched into a fist, three slender, and razor-sharp Gundanium claws extending from the hand. Slashing viciously across, the three claws tore through the Sandrock's very armor, leaving three parallel gashes across the Gundam's chest.

The Sandrock tilted over, crashing to the earth. Kahna wailed in alarm, jolted violently by the impact, and felt his head slam against the control panel. Somewhat dazed, he willed himself to stay conscious, and pulled himself away from the darkness that threatened to consume him. He felt warmth spilling down his face, and his right eye was being assaulted by the blood that poured from the wound on his forehead.

"Damn you…!" he cursed Rem, willing the Sandrock back into an upright position.

"Master Kahna!" he heard Razul's voice crying out to him, but didn't respond. Rem was advancing on Inori.

Cursing inside the cockpit, Inori decided that she had seen enough of Rem's brutality. The Omen wasn't the only Gundam designed for martial arts combat! Straightening out the Azure's wings, she rolled backwards, onto the Gundam's hands, into a handstand, and back onto its feet. The Azure fell back into a defensive Jyu-jutsu stance, one fist raised.

"All right, asshole!" she growled. "You wanna rumble? Let's rumble!"

The Azure charged the Omen, Inori expecting Rem to quickly turn about, just as he had done for Kahna. The Azure was too fast for Rem, however, and he was unable to rush her and attack. She threw a feigned punch at the Omen's head, cocking the Azure's left leg back, then snapping it straight up, into the Omen's face, like she had predicted. She followed up with a one-two combo in the chest area, hitting fast and hard, always driving the Omen back. She had to keep him on his toes, and off-balance, or she would never get the edge on this bastard.

She faked a knee kick, then brought the right leg up high, in a vicious axe kick, bringing the leg down hard. Just barely, the Omen had escaped, but not without getting clipped by the skilled attack. Inori followed up with another right hook, intended for the head.

Rem caught her punch.

She just barely had enough time to mumble "shit", before Rem hit the Azure with a hard uppercut, sending the slender Gundam reeling backwards. Inori held the controls in a death grip, knowing that she had to recover fast, or Rem would be all over her. Still, the Omen was faster to recover, and rammed the Azure in the chest with an elbow strike. The Azure tumbled to the ground, but Inori kept just enough wits about her to roll to one side, avoiding the heel drop that followed.

She was out of time, the Azure wouldn't be able to avoid the next attack. Gritting her teeth, she braced herself for impact.

The attack never came. Takeru had interfered, and had charged Rem while he was distracted, sending the Omen flying away from the downed Inori.

"Get your ass up." He ordered. Inori didn't know if he was talking to Rem, or to her, but she wasn't about to argue. The Azure pushed itself up, just as the Omen did.

"Now." Takeru said flatly. "You'll fight me."

Inori glanced over at the Sandrock, which had gotten back up on its feet. Still, it seemed a bit unsteady, Inori knew that they were outmatched.

"Are you all right, Kahna?" She asked the young Winner family heir.

"Y-yes…" his voice was soft, and unsteady. He'd been hurt, she could tell. Inori spat out a curse, and turned her attention back to the two Gundams, which stood facing each other off.

There was only silence between the two of them. They did not have to see each other's faces to glare at each other. The Neo gripped at its beam saber, its fingers tightening around the handle. The Omen activated its own plasma saber, its right hand tightening into a fist. For another moment longer, they stared each other down. Then, they charged.

Both yelled out in a primeval battle cry, intended for the other's blood. The two energy blades clashed, the Neo dancing away, and coming back in with a wicked angled slash. Omen parried, forcing the blow aside, and following up with its own attack, cutting across the torso. Takeru set the beam saber in the blade's path, preventing any damage to his own suit, then feigned an overhead chop. At the last possible moment, when Rem moved his blade up to block, he pulled the weapon away, and came back in, impossibly fast, with a thrust that would've punctured the cockpit. Lighter on its feet than the bulkier Neo, the Omen danced backwards, out of harm's way. Just as fast, Rem reversed his direction, coming back in with a thrust of his own.

Takeru spun the Neo to the side, knowing he couldn't dance out of the blade's path so quickly. He followed up with a slash across the face of the Omen, certain he had scored a hit. To his surprise, the Omen ducked low, and charged the Neo with all speed, ramming into the bulkier MS, and pushing it backward. Takeru planted the Neo's feet with a grunt, pushing back, and bringing them to a stand still. The Omen's right arm, the one with the plasma saber, was pinned helplessly to the Neo's side, but Takeru had been forced to sacrifice his own sword arm, just to hold back the oncoming charge of the Omen. That left the Omen with a single free hand, that didn't have much chance of scoring a hit with those wicked claws. It was a stalemate, or so Takeru believed.

Rem raised the left arm, balling the hand into a fist. Takeru expected the three claws to emerge, like they had done before. A pale, reddish light blazed forth from above the wrist, taking the shape of a flat-bladed sword. Another plasma saber! Takeru's eyes widened. How could it be possible? It took great skill to operate just one plasma saber, but two? He closed his eyes.

"I guess I die, then." He stated flatly, somehow not surprised by this turn of events, not caring, just quietly accepting his death. The blade descended.

Literally mere inches from cleaving the Neo down the center, the Omen's arm was suddenly stopped. Rem was confused, pushing down harder. To his surprise, he found his arm being forced backwards. A strong arm wrapped around the Omen's waist, pinning its right arm uselessly to its side. Pulling with all of his Mobile Suit's strength, Razul forced Rem away from Takeru.

"Razul, what are you doing?" Kahna cried out in alarm.

"Buying you time." Grunted the soldier. It was taking all his effort to hold back the powerful Gundam. He felt as if he could just barely hold onto Rem. Still, he had to try.

"Miss Kazama." He pleaded softly to Inori. "And you, Gundam pilot. I beg you, take my young master, and flee!"

"What!" Inori and Kahna both cried out in shock.

"Please!" Razul grunted, holding tightly to his controls. "Flee, now! You cannot win against him! Not like this! You must-ergh! You must regroup your strength! Master Kahna is too week to travel very far, without passing out, I know. He can barely fight, right now! Please, Inori… I'm begging you, leave! I'll hold this-this devil, for as long as I can! Please, go!"

"No, just hold him a bit longer, and I can finish him off!" Takeru growled, readying his beam saber.

"No! You cannot!" Razul gasped, stopping Takeru before he even started. "You… your honor would never-never allow you to do such a cowardly thing! I-I know! I can feel that, from you… please, just go, I beg of you."

Takeru closed his eyes remaining silent for a long moment. He returned the Neo's beam saber to its socket. "All right. Inori, get Winner's Sandrock, and let's get the hell out of here."

"What, _no_!" Kahna pleaded. "You can't! Razul, I won't leave you here to die!"

"Please, young master." Razul pleaded softly, despite the strain of holding Rem back. "For your father's sake…"

Kahna fell silent, tears sparkling down his cheek in a slender path. Inori and Takeru brought their Gundams to either side of the Sandrock, each taking an arm. Through the roar of their turbines, they ascended into the sky, speeding away from Australia.

"Thank you, Razul." He heard Inori's voice say softly. "Thank you…"

Razul didn't know how long it was that he held Rem there. All he knew was that he had to prevent this monster from getting to Kahna, and the other Gundam pilots. Perhaps only a split moment before Rem broke free, he felt his face break into a smile.

"Master Kahna…" he whispered softly.

In the moment of his death, as Rem thrust both plasma saber blades into the cockpit of his Maganac, Razul felt peace.

_Master Kahna_, his thoughts echoed in his mind, _and Gundam pilots. It is you, and you alone, who shall finally end this bitter circle of war and bloodshed… Master Kahna, do not weep for me. For in my death, I have the great honor and privilege to know that it is I who will bring forth the strength within you. Not the strength of a boy… but of a man…_

Razul's Maganac exploded with all the brilliance of a sunset, the flames engulfing the Omen, because of its close proximity. Though he was over a hundred miles away, the sound of the explosion echoed through Kahna's heart. It rang out like a bell, sounding his grief with a single, pure tone. Razul, yet another who had come so close to him, was dead. Razul had died for him, so he could live… he would not let Razul's sacrifice be in vain.

Within the Azure's cockpit, Inori watched both Kahna and Takeru with concern. Neither one had spoken a word, and she didn't expect them to. Rem had killed a brave man, and in return, they had escaped. It was cowardice, in Takeru's mind. She knew that much. She also knew that he'd never utter a single word about it, ever again. In her own heart, things were different. She grieved for Kahna, and for Razul, but she had no time to ponder her emotions. She and Takeru had been betrayed, by one of their very own. Her eyes chilled over, her thoughts becoming focused. There was something she had to do…

Takeru remained silent, not allowing his thoughts to go beyond their destination. He would ponder all of this later, but one thing was certain. He needed to become stronger, if he was to face Rem again. In order to defeat the traitor, who had kept him on edge since their meeting, he would become stronger. He would fight until his skill was beyond that of anyone's, even his great-grandfather's.

He would kill Rem Angelique.

The fires of the explosion died away, leaving the Omen standing in the ht wind of Australia's desert. He was silent, his thoughts quiet and focused, in his mind. The plasma saber was deactivated, and he prepared to take off.

Slowly, Rem looked up, and out over the expanse of desert that surrounded him.

"Takeru." He breathed. "I'll kill you."

In a roar of turbines, the Omen spread wide its wings, and launched itself into the clear Australian sky.

**Coming Next:**

The Gundam pilots have been betrayed, and the order is given; Rem must die. For a small amount of time, they reconcile at the Maganac Corps base, in the Arabian Desert. Takeru and Kahna come to know each other, and Inori has fallen silent, her eyes are dark.

She vanishes without warning, leaving Takeru alone with a grieving Kahna, and the damaged Gundams. He realizes the meaning behind her silence too late, that Inori was chosen by Crow to be the assassin out of all three pilots. She attempts to kill Rem, one on one, and without the aid of their Gundams. In a final desperate attempt to kill him, Inori resorts to her dangerous telepathic abilities, but they backfire. She is left in the clutches of OZ, in a comatose state. Her mental attack leaving Rem mentally damaged, and murderously insane.

Now, Takeru must save Inori, or kill her. Without the Neo Wing ZERO being in good shape, he takes off without warning, leaving a newly resolved Kahna behind. Is there even a possibility of Takeru surviving his next encounter with Rem? And what of the Gundam Seraph, now in the hands of the Maganac Corps?

_Next:_ Gundam Wing; After Era: Revelations of Bitter Fate.

_**Author's Note:** Whoa! looks over her work, and gives a low whistle That's pretty impressive, if I do say so myself! Just over 76 pages, including the teaser for part 3. Now, how many of you can do that, huh? Well, I'm sorry it took so long to finish. I had a lot of distractions, and it was kinda hard to work writing so many pages a day, without needing a break, or two. So, before I just jump into part 3, I'm gonna take a couple days to ease out the cramps in my fingers, maybe play a game on my Playstation (which is copyrighted by Sony, just making sure I don't get sued for references), and relax. Today's date, the date of completion is June 29, 2000, just so everybody knows._

_All righty then, I hope you all enjoyed part 2. Hopefully, you'll enjoy part three, just as much! If you have any comments or questions, please send them to This is Miyuki, Mobile Suit engineer, reporting._

_-Miyuki_


End file.
